End of A Very Long Road Home
by Fae 206
Summary: AU: When Kuon Hizuri was murdered as a child over an acting job, Kuu decided to leave acting and open a noodle restaurant in Japan. With Kyoko Hizuri working and living at the restaurant, Kuu tries daily to live a happy life for Kuon. However, when an eighteen year old Kuon returns to his parents can things get better for all four of them including Kyoko who's falling for him?
1. Chapter 1 - Tragedy

**AN: **First, I have too many Skip Beat fics but I wanted to write this and I am trying to find the best way to work on the others. Second, there have been some changes in this like the fact that Kyoko and Kuon are only two years apart age-wise, not four

**End of A Very Long Road Home**

**Chapter One - Tragedy**

As the early morning sun rose over Tokyo, Kyoko kept her head to the pillow hoping that the sound of the alarm clock wouldn't continue to beep but she had to take care of herself. She looked out the window at the new day and then glared at the picture of Shotaro Fuwa, someone who had ditched her four months ago and she had gone into the talent section of LME to impress. She had even started to work as an actress for them although she had only done a commercial and spot inside of a rooster costume so far.

She looked to the other rooms of the restaurant housing. Apart from the room that the manager kept for her, the rest were just offices and storage rooms. There was one other bedroom down the other side of the hall but what this place had was an amazing restaurant with amazing food. The couple who owned this restaurant had once been very famous in America and the chef had once been an actor who worked in Hollywood. A lot of people came here to visit with them and taste his food.

However, at the front of the restaurant there was a scared space and Kyoko wondered if this was why the Hizuris had taken her in because she had once met and played with their son if only for a summer. The space at the entrance was a shrine to the young boy, Kuon Hizuri, who had died been murdered when he was twelve. That was a little over five years ago. This ramen shop had opened three years ago and she had worked here for just over half a year. Her history to the Hizuris was small and yet she felt connected.

She managed to clean her appearance before her back straightened and she heard sounds from the kitchen. He couldn't be here already, could he? She walked over to the kitchen and froze as she saw the brunette former-actor working on the noodles for the day. She checked the clock. It was an hour before he was supposed to get here. Kyoko walked over to the kitchen and saw him look up at her, he was pale again and he had a black bandanna over his head. That usually meant that he had thought about his lost child.

"Good morning," Kyoko said suddenly as she dropped down into a bow and Kuu smiled to her.

"Did I scare you?" he asked as he tried to steady himself. Usually this man wouldn't be rattled by anything but what had happened in America all those years ago haunted him. Kyoko didn't know all the details and she had never asked him for them. All that she was aware of was that Kuon Hizuri, or Corn as he had told her, had been abducted and murdered when he was twelve and his parents hadn't been there to protect him. Kuu-sama had never told her anything else.

"No," Kyoko said before looking around, "I'll go and wash up and then I can -"

"Don't work off the clock," Kuu tried to joke with her, "I want to be able to pay you for your work. Don't you have your classes today too?" he asked her and Kyoko blushed. She had requested that Kuu not pay for her school tuition or acting classes but he had gone ahead and done so as if she were their own child. She would definitely have to pay them back. She had even told him to take all the pay but they still gave her free room and board and a generous wage. They were extremely kind people and it was obvious why they were so beloved.

"I don't mind," Kyoko tried to tell him but Kuu shook his head. "Thank you. I will join you for breakfast though," she told him and Kuu watched her before getting back to work.

…..

…..

_Kuu looked at the gate to the front entrance of his home. He had chosen somewhere with high gates and somewhere that would be protected, somewhere he and his family could have as his very own. His family had always been very charismatic and social but they all needed a place to be themselves and this was his castle. However as he saw the twisted metal, the sharp pain in his gut seemed to dig further. Something was wrong, something had gone terribly wrong._

_He looked at his driver, "Call the police when we get there," he said before pausing. Kuu pulled his phone out of his pocket and rang the phone number for the house. "Come on, come on," he said as he hoped that somehow Kuon was still there even if there had been a robbery. He knew that his son was good at hiding and running and so he could avoid an intruder, as long as he didn't approach them in any attempt to protect the house. It wasn't worth it._

_The phone wasn't answered and Kuu pushed a hand through his hair. He looked around to see that there were police cars just outside his house with bright lights and sirens. What were they doing there? He jumped out of the car before making his way to who seemed like the chief of police. _

"_What's going on here?" he asked as he saw the open door to the house. He tried hard to control himself and steady his breathing but the lights and the loud noises were putting him on edge. "Where's my son?" he asked as he looked around._

"_You're…" one of the officers said as the chief didn't seem to be responding to him. Kuu felt himself get more out of breath but the important question was where the hell was his son!? _

"_This is my house and I demand to know what happened!" Kuu yelled at him and the chief officer turned._

"_There was a break in and a possible murder," he said and Kuu's body turned cold. There was only one person in that house, there should have only been one person in that house. He shook his head in an attempt to deny that they had said that. He had heard wrong or they had gotten information mixed up. He couldn't -_

_Kuu felt his stomach lurch forward as he saw a Gucci coat that had once been green like his son's eyes but now was soaked with blood. It made his heart stop and he grabbed hold of it before anyone could stop him. He remembered the way that Kuon had been excited for Julie to buy this from him. She had told him so much about how she loved the company. Kuu tried to steady himself before he saw the crime scene._

_There was a loose shoe and bloody footprints on the front door step before an even bigger bloody puddle. Along the wall there were small fingerprints where Kuon had attempted to stop himself from being dragged and to the side a gun. Kuu stood there frozen. This wasn't his house, this wasn't his life, this wasn't his kid. _

"_You're Mr. Hizuri, right?" a sergeant asked him and Kuu nodded weakly, not able to connect with the world anymore. This was one of his worst nightmares, something that wasn't happening. It was a test and soon Kuon would come running out with a filming crew on one of those extremely disturbing prank shows. The sergeant approached him and she handed him a note which Kuu could barely hold let alone read._

_Hizuri,_

_You stole my promised spotlight so I've robbed you of your sonshine._

…..

…..

Kuu tried hard to settle himself throughout the day but after reliving the worst night of his life, it was hard to keep oneself calm. He had searched for months to try to find evidence that Kuon was alive somewhere and trying to find him and he had pestered the police as his heartbreak deepened each day to the tragedy. If only he and Julie hadn't left him home alone. They hadn't known that this would happen but they should have, he was unable to protect himself.

It was time to open and Kuu checked over his work for when the first customer would order. This life felt better for him than the stress of acting and after knowing that someone had murdered his kid over an acting role, Kuu didn't want to be in that place anymore. Still, he loved cooking and having family meals together and he adored food. Hopefully Kuon would have been proud of this choice.

"I'm so sorry that I failed you," he whispered as he looked at the small shrine at the entranceway of the restaurant. He and Julie had spoken about having other children but the pain was always far too much to bear. They didn't want to have anyone try to replace Kuon, there was nobody who _could_ replace Kuon.

Kuu heard a knock on the front door of the restaurant, he was expecting a couple of the waitresses to be coming over soon and one other cook to help him in the kitchen but they tended to use the back. Not many people came in during the first hour of business. Kuu looked around before going to answer the door, he tried hard to smile and not let the reflection of that terrible night be the first thing that the customer saw.

"Hello," he said with a smile before taking a step back as a man stood there looking as if he were some kind of paparazzi photographer. He had a leather trench coat with multiple worn patches and had large and heavy boots on, he had a scarf wrapped around his neck and heavy blond stubble around his face. He also had a black cap that was pulled down and hid all but his designer sunglasses.

"Can I help you?" Kuu asked as he saw the height of the individual. Definitely a foreigner. It wasn't just the height but the build and the blond facial hair. That made him more nervous. It had been an American actor who had killed his little boy and Kuu didn't want to think that there was more than one person who would have been part of that.

"Are you open?" the man coughed and then gestured with his head, "Can I come in?" he mumbled and Kuu nodded slowly. He did have some knives he could use to protect himself. "Long…" he chuckled a little and Kuu eyed him warily. "Long ass month."

"Yes, did you want something to…" Kuu said and the man looked to him, coughing more and Kuu saw that the man had coughed up blood onto his arm. So he was sick? "Let me get you something to clean that," he said and the man walked in before sitting at the bar.

He was in his late teens or early twenties and he had it rough. Feeding a homeless man was better than feeding a fugitive. He took a look at him and the man put down a bag that Kuu hadn't noticed that looked as beat up as he was despite it still having a price tag on it. Kuu handed him a wet towel for the blood.

"Is English better for you or Japanese. I'm skilled at both," the man said and Kuu hesitated watching him before smiling.

"It doesn't matter," he said, "so, what can I get started for you?"

"I think that I need to contact the police," the man told him, "that's what you do for missing person cases, right? Even if they are done internationally. I probably should have done that before leaving for Japan," he shrugged and Kuu stared at him. This man was speaking Japanese without a hint of an accent but he had come from somewhere else? The whole thing was confusing to him.

Kuu sighed before looking away, "Did you seek me out because you know about what happened with my son?" he asked and the young man took off his sunglasses to show the stunning emerald eyes as well as his hat which uncovered his blond hair. Kuu stared at him. There was no way that there was somebody who looked so much like an older version of his son. No, the dream was making him go crazy.

"That is _exactly _why I sought you out. Took me some time to get here," the man said before staring at him intently. "What do I say now?" he asked before shrugging, "I'm home," he said weakly before dropping down from exhaustion and Kuu managed to catch his head before he hit it as he passed out.

Kuu looked at him as he tried to figure out what had happened. They had never found Kuon's body and the man in front of him did look a lot like his son but this wouldn't be the first time he was contacted by a fake Kuon. One thing was true though, he had to get this man to a hospital and hopefully order a paternity test.

**End of Chapter One**

**Thank you for reading, reviews are appreciated **


	2. Chapter 2 - Truthfully

**Chapter Two - Truthfully**

_Kuu stared at the police officer as they were in the office. Julie was going to be there as soon as she could but she would have to catch a flight back from Milan. Kuu felt terrible. He had had a few altercations with an actor on set who believed that he had 'stolen' the role from him but he had felt the guy was harmless and if anything that he would harm him. He never felt that someone with the celebrity persona he had would be capable of this._

_He didn't want to be in this office answering questions, he wanted to be strangling the man with his own two hands and demanding to know where his son was. He had followed the law to this point but how could he just let a man feel that he could get away with the attempted murder of his child._

"_I'm going to have you speak with a doctor," the officer said and Kuu kept his head bowed. He was holding a toy bird that he had bought Kuon when he was about three and they had gone bird watching for the first time. It was a wren, the first bird that Kuon had pointed out that day. _

_Kuu nodded shakily as he attempted to keep himself from breaking. He didn't know whether to grieve or not because he felt the police were wasting time. They had to get this guy. He had to get revenge on him for taking his anger and jealousy out on a twelve-year-old. _

_The doctor entered the office but Kuu could hardly keep track on what was going on. He just kept picturing the crime scene and the jacket and loose shoe. Kuon had attempted to escape and struggled but they had already told him that with the amount of blood that they had found then survival was unlikely. _

"_Mr. Hizuri," the doctor said and Kuu nodded as he held the bird on his lap, his shaking hand squeezing it as he prayed that somebody would tell him that his son had been found and that he would be okay. He needed Julie here, he needed his family. Any acting role wasn't as important as one of Kuon's smiles. He had failed him as a parent. "It's hard to hear but from what I've been able to see," the doctor told him, "we just have to hope that his struggle wasn't for too long."_

_Kuu opened his mouth to argue, "He's alive," he whispered as he felt completely hollow inside due to the devastation. "I know it. I'm his father. I know he's alive," he said as he pushed a hand through his blond hair. His body shook as he lost composure, "he's alive," he repeated. _

"_I am truly sorry," the doctor said, "but I have a history with cases like these and I have to tell you that there is very little chance of your son not having died." _

_Kuu shivered. He didn't want to hear this. This was a nightmare and he should never have left Kuon at home alone even for one night. He should have taken him with him despite him having school the following day. This was his fault. His son was dead and it was all his fault. "I'm not going to believe it," he whispered as he stared at the floor in front of him. "You haven't found a body that means that he's not dead," he said as he felt the silence in the room weighing down upon him like a coffin. _

…

…

Kuu kept looking into the hospital room where the man's body was. He didn't know whether to believe that to be Kuon or not, this wasn't the first time someone had come to him and tried to convince him that he was his dead son and he was scared to hope anymore. The DNA test would take another sixteen hours along with the paternity test and he couldn't hurry it up even if he was…or had been famous.

He could see the way that the man's body resembled Kuon's. He had stared at photographs of his son for hours and this man's eyes were the right distance apart, his facial shape was similar to his own, his skin color was the right shade but these things could be fabricated and the man had come to him on his own, it wasn't as if the police had contacted him to say they had recovered him.

"Do you really think that's him?" Lory asked from where he stood behind his old friend. He walked over to him and placed what he hoped was a comforting hand on his friend's shoulder.

Kuu shook his head, "I don't know," he said. He didn't mean for it to sound rude or insensitive but he really didn't know and after all of this time he was afraid to believe him. "After all this time…" he shook his head, "No. It's not him. It's just another person pretending to be him."

"He looks the way that Kuon would look if he were alive," Lory commented and Kuu stared at him.

He shook his head, trying to protect himself, "It's another fake. He shouldn't have contacted me. I need to go back to the restaurant," Kuu told him sadly and Lory paused for a moment. He looked at the unknown man before following Kuu out of the room. He looked away with a heavy sigh.

"Shuuhei," he said and Kuu turned to him with tired eyes but slowed down. "I wish that I had told you this six years ago," he said and Kuu looked at him confused. Six years ago was when Kuon had died and if there was anything that he should have known about his son then he had hoped people would have told him. He had fought for the first year that Kuon wasn't dead despite everyone telling him to grieve and remember Kuon.

"Kuon didn't die that night," he said and Kuu looked at him in shock. He shook his head and laughed weakly, pushing his hair back. Lory looked at him sadly, turning away to hide his guilt. "I only discovered two months later when it was already too late. I was having someone monitor the situ -"

Kuu turned and punched the wall, intentionally missing his old friend but the hate that had been in his eyes all those months ago appeared now. "You never told me this!" he snapped at him, his heart beating quickly in his chest. "You told me that I should believe in the police! You could have tol-"

"I thought that it would be best if you believed that he had been murdered," Lory said, lifting his hands in defense but he wasn't going to attack the actor. Kuu and Julie had been through too much already. "I didn't know how you would react if you found out the truth."

"The truth!?" Kuu snapped as he raised an eyebrow. "Boss, you had a right to tell me if he wasn't dead! I thought that he – " Kuu's hands shook painfully as he looked down in horror. He had let everyone convince him of Kuon's death but that hadn't been exactly true. "I'm his father. I'm…."

"You know what they do with abducted kids when they don't kill them and they don't ask for ransom," Lory said slowly and Kuu's eyes widened and he shook his head.

"No," he whispered before struggling to breathe. "They would have caught it, they would have told me that he was alive," he said as he felt that he was going to throw up. He started crying, the pain heard in his voice. "Boss, please, please don't tell me what I think you're going to say," Kuu said as he felt completely weakened.

"Kuon was part of a child trafficking plot with other children from well o-"

Lory didn't even get a chance to finish the sentence because Kuu had punched a hole in the wall from anger. How had his friend found this out and never told him about it? They could have made sure that Kuon was dead and gotten revenge. Why hadn't he turned this information over? Why had he betrayed him?

"I don't know if I can ever forgive you," Kuu whispered before looking back to the hospital room having just slightly more hope that that was actually Kuon in there.

…

…

Kuu hadn't been able to sleep that night but he hadn't been able to talk with anyone else either. He didn't want to mislead Julie if this man who had turned up at their door had been another scam artist wanting to find comfort in the Hizuri fame and fortune. There were too many stories about people stealing another's identity but then at the same time, this could be Kuon this time.

"Are you okay?" Julie asked as she put her hand on his shoulder and he stared out the window. "You've been having that dream a lot more recently," she said sadly before looking to the side where she had a picture frame with two pictures, one of the three of them as a family and the other of her with Kuon taken only two weeks before his death.

He was still her son, her amazing little boy who had died far too early, far earlier than he deserved.

"There are just…just some things going on," Kuu said before starting to pace and Julie watched him.

"Maybe I should stay home," she said, "or come with you to the restaurant. I only have a short shoot today and then I'm working on some designs as well," she said. Julie was one of Japan's best supermodels despite her not having Japanese blood and she had also been able to work on fashion design. She wasn't acting anymore, she didn't feel the strength for it when she saw how devastated Kuu was when he was asked to perform.

"No, go to work," Kuu told her not sure how to explain what was currently happening at the hospital. He could very easily be wrong and it was best to not upset her.

Kuu heard a buzz from his cell phone and rushed to grab it as Julie looked at him confused. Who could be calling Kuu so early in the morning? "Hello, Hizuri speaking," he said before his eyes widened hearing the other voice on the end of the call.

"Hello, Hizuri-san, this is Ito, I'm the doctor who is working on the DNA and paternity tests. I have some news, if you'd prefer to co-" the doctor said and Kuu felt his breath catch in his throat. At least he would know if it was a fake or not of course, a fake Kuon could still bribe doctors to fake the results. Ito had been a friend of Lory's though and had a reputation to protect but after hiding that information from him, was Lory Takarada really a true friend?

"Please tell me now," Kuu said as he attempted to steady himself. He took a step out of the bedroom and pushed his back to the wall. "Please?" he begged, "I nee-"

"It's a match, both of them," Ito told him and Kuu froze. He stared around in shock. "That man is Hizuri Kuon."

Kuu felt his heart stop for a moment before he knew that he wanted to be at the hospital. He needed to know what had happened all those years ago. He needed to be by his son. As he ended the call, Kuu came into the bedroom and tried to find some comfortable clothes.

"Kuu? What is it?" Julie asked and Kuu looked at her.

He paused before shaking his head, "Don't worry about it. It'll all be okay," he told her not knowing why he wasn't telling her about Kuon coming back into their lives. He just didn't want anything to ruin the moment.

**End of Chapter Two**

**Thank you for reading, reviews are appreciated**

**Kuon and Kyoko meeting will be in next chapter**

**Thank you to the reviewers of Chapter One**

H-Nala, Kris XD


	3. Chapter 3 - A Father's Heartbreak

**AN: **At first I didn't think people would enjoy this story and wasn't planning to update so quickly but the reviews really touched my heart as I did really enjoy writing the second chapter as well as this chapter. Thank you for choosing to continue 😊

**Chapter Three – A Father's Heartbreak **

"I'll send him out in a moment and we can talk about his treatment plan," the doctor had told him and Kuu took a deep breath as he sat down. He didn't know how to behave. This wasn't like sending a child to boarding school or sending them away for five years to another country so they could live out their own dreams of being an actor, this was bringing someone back from the dead.

Kuu didn't even know who this man was but that didn't matter. This wasn't some random person that he had met at a bar or an estranged friend, this was Kuon and so whoever he was, Kuu wanted to get to know him. Kuu paused as he saw the door open and he opened his mouth as he saw the awkward eighteen-year-old.

He was too skinny, he was too pale, he had scars places where he hadn't before and his eyes had a haunted look but he had searched for him and for a place to return home. Kuu opened his mouth but he didn't know what to say. He bowed his head and wrapped an arm around himself. "I am so sorry, Ku-Kuon," he whispered feeling like a failure of a father, he should have taken him with him, he should never have stopped looking.

Kuon turned to him, his emerald eyes coated with years of pain and a lack of light. Kuu wanted to know what had made his son like that. "Don't," he said silently with a shake of his head. "I don't…blame you," he said stiffly and Kuu could see all the small movements and traits that one would usually carry all their lives.

"Are you hungry? Did you want to eat?" Kuu said as he felt himself clumsily trying to work through this situation. He looked from side to side as if searching for a huge sign that would tell him what to do.

"We need to discuss the treatment procedure," Doctor Ito said and Kuu nodded slowly. He was still staring at the eighteen-year-old who looked like he was in a military pose. Kuu hadn't seen him smile, he wanted to see his son smile. His son should have been happy all this time, there had to be _something _that made him happy.

"I've asked that a psychologist join us in there as well, are you comfortable with your fa—" Ito said as he turned to Kuon and Kuon nodded, hanging his head and remaining quiet as Kuu felt the pain and sadness wrap around his son like a second skin. Kuu took a nervous inhale before coming into the room with the other doctors and Kuon.

Kuu froze as he saw a couple of police officers there as well but Kuon seemed to have been expecting them. Kuu hastily sat down next to Kuon and watched him but the young man was sitting with his back straight and his hands face down on the table, he had a very serious expression on his face.

"So," the police officer said as he took out his notepad, "You're Hizuri Kuon, an American citizen?" he asked and Kuu was about to speak up but saw everyone trying to tell him not to interrupt. Kuu was going to say that he would do whatever was needed to have Kuon in this country and with them despite him being a legal adult. His son was a legal adult? He had barely seen him as a teenager.

"Yes," Kuon nodded and watched it be taken down that way.

"Where have you been for the past six years?" the police officer asked and Kuon looked at him for a moment before his eyes showed a fire behind them and he spoke in a cold voice as if he had been a demon from hell.

"I don't know how many locations," he said and Kuu blinked as he tried to reason it out in his head. "At least two in Los Angeles," he said and Kuu looked at him. Why hadn't he attempted to come back home if that was the case? He was so close to them…okay Los Angeles was huge but this was his son's life. "Many international," Kuon continued.

"And what did you do in these locations?" the police asked and Kuon turned to them, his eyes darkening.

"I was sold as a slave to people who drugged me," he said cautiously and Kuu stared at him starting to feel sick. "I spent time in Tokyo as well where I was sold to a low ranking member of the Yakuza but I'm not going to give you the information that you'd be looking for there until I know how secure you'll make me and my family."

"What made you come here?" the officer asked and Kuon looked down.

"I heard about my dad's ramen restaurant," he said and Kuu continued to look at Kuon in alarm. Kuon still stared ahead. He didn't know how much to tell his father, he didn't know how much of his life that his father would accept.

…..

…..

_The twelve-year-old felt woozy. His head was spinning and he felt drugged. He had to come up with some kind of idea to get out of here but he could feel blood on his clothes and he only had one shoe on. He felt himself stick to the plastic underneath him._

"_Don't get any ideas, kid!" the man driving the car growled at him. "You make one wrong move and I'll blind you, you understand. Your daddy arranged this?"_

"_You're…you're mad at my dad?" Kuon asked trying to clear his head. This guy wanted his father's money. That was what was happening. Kuon felt himself struggle with some heavy coughing but he managed to push himself up. He took a look at the man before looking at the windows, he didn't recognize this place but it looked like it was the early morning. He tried to move but the pain was too great. He felt a pain across his stomach and flinched, there was a stab wound there that had been covered by clear tape, if he moved too much it would peel off. He needed to get some medical care. _

"_My parents have money," he said feeling weak and he hated feeling weak, "They'll give it to you," he coughed. He felt his eyes slipping closed again and despite struggling against it, he couldn't manage to be fully awake. _

"_I don't want your money, brat" the man said and Kuon groaned a little trying to look at him. That's what criminals abducted kids for in the movies, right? They wanted to blackmail expensive families. "I want to see that heartbreak on Kuu Hizuri's face," he said and Kuon flinched again, "I want to see him stop acting and go through the pain of losing what's most important to him every day."_

_Kuon paused, his body turning pale as he thought about how much he had messed up his hero's life just by being born._

…..

…

Kuu continued to quickly glance at the younger man as they approached the ramen restaurant together. He had never imagined that Kuon would be sold as property to different international gangs but then he hadn't imagined him alive either. He saw the way that his son was distant – almost like a soldier or body guard – and he didn't want to make him feel uncomfortable by pressuring him too much.

"Are you hungry?" Kuu asked as he felt tears in his eyes, his son had been through so many things that he shouldn't have experienced.

"I can eat a little," Kuon said as he took a look around and Kuu kept staring at him.

He had missed six years of Kuon's life. He had missed him going through high school and graduating from middle school. He had missed him going on dates, going to prom, taking the college entrance exams. He had missed him going through puberty and giving him guidance. Six years was a lot and now he felt that he knew very little about his son, but it was his son.

The restaurant hadn't opened yet and Kuu was debating whether or not to even open it. He hadn't prepared food for the customers and Kuon needed certain things. Clothes for example. The doctors had also prescribed him medicine so they had to find a place to store it.

"You tell me what you need," Kuu said before putting a hand to Kuon's upper arm and Kuon stared at the memorial his father had for him, a weak smile on his face and Kuu stopped as he tried to take joy in that smile despite how small it was. "Kuon, I love you, son."

"I love you too, Dad" Kuon whispered before the two of them heard footsteps coming towards them and Kuu looked at the time. Of course, Kyoko wouldn't be at school yet but he had hoped that she would have left for LME. His heart stopped as he thought about LME, how could Lory know about this and not tell him. What reason would he have ever had for not telling him that Kuon was alive. Kuu would have searched the entire planet for a chance to find him.

"G-Good morning," she said as she dropped down into a bow and Kuon looked at her surprised. He turned to his father. Who was this girl? Why was she here this early? Was this a daughter that he had fostered? Kuon couldn't help but to look between the two of them accusingly.

"Oh, Kyoko…" Kuu said slowly before he put a hand on Kuon's shoulder, needing to touch his son. "I can't explain it all just yet but I want for you to meet…"

"Kuon Hizuri," Kuon said with a stiff bow and Kyoko could tell that his eyes weren't really connecting with the outside world and looked as if he were living in his own world inside his head.

Kyoko followed suit, she understood that he wouldn't recognize her. She didn't look the same that she had before and she had dyed and cut her hair and was ten years older than she had been when they were children. "Mogami Kyoko. I work at this restaurant and Kuu-sama allowed me to stay here when I couldn't live in my apartment any longer."

"She makes the best ramen," Kuu said and Kyoko shook her head.

"Kuu-sama is so humble," she told him and Kuon looked between the two of them and nodded. He took a step forward as Kuu watched him. Did he need something? Did he need to go somewhere?

"You cook?" Kuon asked as he gestured with his thumb to the kitchen area.

"Sometimes," Kyoko said slowly as Kuu looked between them unsure whether to follow Kuon or not. "Did you want me to make you something?" she asked and Kuon shook his head. He went to sit down at a table but before he could do so Kyoko heard something bang onto the floor in the back. She paled, hopefully that wasn't one of Kuu's precious pots and pans.

She was about to turn but she saw Kuon flinch, his eyes seeming to change just a little as he heard the sound. She turned to Kuu again before seeing a cold aura around the younger man as he threw over a chair and she and Kuu could only watch him as he pushed a hand through his hair and started to laugh painfully as if he were enduring some kind of nightmare.

"Stop it you asshole!" he snapped as his body shook. "I'll kill you, I will fricken kill you. You don't treat people like that!" he said before punching a hole in the wall and breathing painfully. "You're dead! I don't give a damn what happens to me," he said bitterly before pushing over the table and getting into a fighting stance. "You know I'm too valuable to kill! So you won't do it," he said as he smiled in an evil manner, the air around him getting incredibly tense and Kuu could feel it like daggers made of ice shards.

Kuu was in shock but he approached Kuon. He could see his son trembling as he looked at him and put a hand to his shoulder though he knew that he could get hurt. They had trained Kuon to fight and he had triggers which put him into a warrior or soldier position. Kuu put a hand on his son's neck. "It's okay…" he said slowly as Kyoko stepped back, a little nervous by what had just happened. "It's okay. You're safe. You're safe," he said and then took steady breaths hoping that Kuon would follow his pattern.

As Kuon finally looked around at the restaurant and the hole in the wall, he sank onto the ground looking absolutely defeated and Kuu got down with him, kneeling in front of him, "Dad," he whispered through tears, "I'm sorry. I didn't….I don't…." He ran his hand through his hair again, his body shaking and Kuu managed to wrap his arms around him.

"It's okay," he told him gently knowing that when Kuon was ready, he would find him a therapist that he could see who could help him with this pain. "It's okay. It was just a pan that fell down, it's okay. I'm here," he said as Kuon held to his dad. "I'm here to protect you. They won't hurt you again. I'll protect you this time."

Kyoko wrapped an arm around herself. She hadn't expected for Corn to ever become this violent but then she hadn't expected Kuon to return at all since everyone who had ever known him believed he was dead.

**End of Chapter Three**

**Thank you for reading, reviews really are appreciated**

**Thank you to the reviewers of Chapter Two**

Brennakai, H-Nala, Kaname671, paulagato, Reignashii


	4. Chapter 4 - Help

**AN: **I promise there will be more Kyoko stuff next chapter since they'll be interacting in a lot of different spaces but this is still more of Kuon and his parents and coming home. Thanks for all the reviews, they definitely are fuel for me writing this so quickly.

**Chapter Four – Help **

Kyoko looked at Kuu nervously as they made the ramen, she kept stealing glances at Kuon who just seemed to be sat at the table with his eyes closed. He was wearing a hat and sunglasses again with the same outfit as he had had on the previous day. She kept seeing Kuu looking at him and then fidgeting and then pacing before looking out again. It seemed that both Hizuris were waiting for the other to take the first step.

"He's just…" Kyoko looked out again before hearing the alarm beep telling her that she needed to go to her classes at school, it was a half day and so she had been able to put some time into helping Kuu with the food preparation. "He's meditating?" she asked as she saw how he was sitting, he seemed extremely disciplined but was that something that was sad, that his body went into this unnatural calm.

Kuu sighed and pushed a hand through his hair, "As long as he's _alive_, I don't care if he's destroyed the whole restaurant," he said and Kyoko turned to him. That meant that he'd pretty much let Kuon do whatever he wanted. She could understand that but it might not be the best thing. "Kyoko-chan, I've almost lost my son once, I've been given a second chance to make things right with him. I'm sorry but I've been on his side since I knew I was going to be a father."

"You shouldn't," Kuon finally said and they both turned to him. Kuon didn't open his eyes. "You shouldn't just agree with me on everything," he repeated, "I have a heightened sense of all six senses," he said and looked to them with a piercing gaze that made both of them stop as if frozen.

Kuon shook his head and as he looked away they could feel able to move again. Kyoko froze, she really did feel like something had bound her in that position but he had only done that with a look. And what did he mean six senses? Weren't there only fi-

"Twenty one," Kuon said before they asked him anything. "I have been trained in using all of the twenty-one senses at one time," he looked around and Kyoko and Kuu stared at one another. "I said six because the average person would argue for anything more than five senses. I also have power over my physical body and can even mimic the physical state of death for up to nine hou s."

Kuu opened his mouth to argue but honestly, having heard what trauma Kuon had been through, he looked very good given that information. "There should be another chef in here soon. I can hand off the tasks for the day and the evening shift and then we can go back home and…and I know you're going to need a lot, you're a…you're much bigger than when you were a kid," he said though his eyes still reflected the hope he had for his son.

"Given how I grew up, I am surprised that my body is the physical way it is," he said before seeing the pain in Kuu's face and looked down, he took a deep breath as he tried to digest the guilt and pain that his father showed but it had been a long time since he had shown empathy for the people around him. He had cut himself off from the world when he had seen a good friend of his and another captive, Rick, killed by the hands of a gang boss for an incomplete drug run…or at the gunpoint.

"Kuon…" Kuu said nervously and Kuon sighed.

"I'm sorry that I disappointed you," he said and Kuu shook his head and was about to come and sit with him but Kyoko approached him instead.

"Hi, Kuon-san" she smiled before gesturing to the chair opposite him, "I have to go in a minute but I don't think anyone blames you for being a little distant and a little different. I definitely don't think that Kuu-sama blames you for anything," Kyoko sighed before realizing she hadn't brought her precious items with her that day. "Next time we meet, I want to show you something that has a lot of meaning to me, okay?" she asked him and he looked at her.

"You don't even…" he shook his head and Kyoko smiled.

"I know you better than you think I do," she winked before leaving. Kuu watched her nervously before putting a hand on Kuon's shoulder.

"Do you want something to eat? The first batch is almost done and we can eat together," he suggested and Kuon agreed.

"How's Mom?" he finally asked and Kuu turned to answer but fell quiet, he wasn't sure what the best thing to say was. "Is she…alive?" Kuon asked nervously and Kuu smiled to that.

"She's good, well as good as can be," he said and Kuon smiled weakly again before looking down at the table. Kuu really wanted there to be a better way for the two of them to communicate. He missed having his little boy sit beside him and they would just fall into conversation. Kuon had been too hurt for that now and Kuu felt guilty for the pain that kept crossing his face.

…..

…..

Julie became nervous whenever Kuu became distant or it felt like he was hiding something from her. Maybe she had had some times when she had acted violently and she had even tried to take her life a couple of times so that she could be with her Kuon but she still wanted to be treated like Kuu's partner instead of someone he told things to once they all got settled. Losing Kuon wasn't only painful for him but the pain was extraordinary for her as well.

So, despite Kuu telling her to go to work and he would sort things out, she had gone to the restaurant during the early afternoon to talk to him. She went around the back entrance where she could enter through the restaurant. She was the boss's wife and so everyone knew her and she knew everyone apart from this man with a baseball cap and hooded coat sitting at a table outside. Was he a new hire? He didn't look Japanese.

Julie looked at him before finding him to be staring at her. She looked around before dropping into a simple bow, "Hizuri Julie," she tried to introduce herself but the man nodded.

"I know," he said, his voice shaking a little. "Mne..zhal'. Ya ne zn-znayu russkiy" (I'm sorry. I don't speak Russian.)

"You know a little bit though," Julie said before looking at him and taking more interest in the foreigner who attempted to speak Russian to her. Kuon could instantly tell who it was but was remaining quiet, fearing any rejection or anger she might have towards him. "Did you take lessons?" she asked and Kuon laughed weakly.

"You taught me," he said and she stared at him confused. The only people she could remember teaching Russian to were Kuu and Kuon. She looked at the man who seemed in his early twenties. "I thought you…knew…"

"I knew that I had…" Julie asked very softly before smiling slightly, maybe he meant from watching one of the movies in which she had spoken some Russian or maybe from that documentary that was made on her with a lot of Russian people from Hollywood talking. She saw him face her before he removed the glasses to show the emerald eyes that captivated her and she heard so many people tell her that her little boy had her eyes. She stared at him before standing.

"I thought Dad…" he said and Julie put a hand to his cheek, looking at him with the pain showing in her eyes as she tried to memorize every part of him.

"Kuon?" she whispered and he nodded to her, scared that she would push him away and she might even be glad that he had died. "My baby," she whispered as she threw her arms around him. "Kuon, I am so so so sorry. I'm so sorry, baby," she whispered as she broke down crying. "Oh my god, what happened?" she asked before looking at his face and in her mind she could place the face of her twelve-year-old son onto this Kuon like an invisible mask.

"Oh my baby boy," she whispered, "You're so handsome. What happened? Where did you go? I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry that they convinced me that you were gone. I'm so sorry that I gave up. I can't forgive myself. Kuon…" she choked as she grabbed him and wrapped her arms around him tightly. "Oh, darling," she said as she felt everything within her twist but she still rubbed his back, hoping to soothe him.

As Julie held him to her, she heard a noise from the back and looked up to see Kuu coming out ready to leave but his jaw dropped as he saw her there. Julie felt her back straighten a little as she pulled back. She gently rubbed Kuon's back, trying to keep him close to her. "You knew that he was alive?" she whispered in disbelief, "You knew that he was here? You obviously seem to know that he was here and yet I haven't," Julie stood, "I haven't received any text messages, any phone calls. How long have you known? Has it all been a lie, Kuu?"

"Wait," Kuon said panicked as he reached out to her, " Wait, Dad didn't…please, just…" he said desperately despite Julie reacting to her emotions. "Don't yell. Please, please don't…not you two…we can speak calmly. Please don't yell, we can talk calmly" he said quickly as his eyes widened and his heart started to pound. Julie didn't even notice when he put his head down on his knees with his arms wrapped around his waist and rocked a little to try to calm down.

"I haven't known for…that phone call this morning, that told me that the DNA test checked out. You know that we've had fake Kuons approach us before. I know how much that hurts you, I was trying to do what was best for you," Kuu said not seeing that Kuon was breaking down in the chair as the argument between the two of them continued.

"You could have told me there was a chance at least. Even if it had been a fake, I'd much rather believe in a fake then miss out on a chance to be with my son. Would you even have let me see him if I hadn't walked into this situation?" she accused him and Kuu looked at her, his voice raising slightly.

"Of course, I would have told you! I was just sorting the pieces out! It's been really hard on me too and I know that you want Kuon here as much as I do but I'm his father!" he snapped and Julie shook her head, pain in her eyes.

"I'm his mother!" she snapped before they both heard the sound of someone crying and turned around to see Kuon in a situation that he hadn't been in since he was about eight-years-old.

"If I'm good then Daddy will find me and take me home," Kuon said as if he were in a trance. "He'll take me home and it'll be me and him and Mom again and Mom and Dad will cook and I'll eat it all like a good boy. I'll be good. Just please let Daddy find me. I'll be good. I promise that I'll be good," he said as he seemed caught in a trance.

…..

…

_Another seven moons since he had been sold to this last man and the drugs were even worse on his body. This man wanted kids to work in his sweat shop and if it wasn't for the pain from the attacks and the drugs that got put into his body at least four times a day, he could have escaped. Right now he was locked in solitary because someone blamed him for stealing their share of the food when really it was the other person who stole his. He didn't know how to argue though. He had to believe that he could get out of this. _

_Kuon closed his eyes, was he still twelve or was he thirteen, was this the fifth place he had been to or only the fourth. It was hard to keep track of things in his head. No. It was hot again. It wasn't winter anymore so he was thirteen. Summer meant that he was thirteen and his dad hadn't found him. He hadn't really prayed to God before but he wanted to go home._

"_I'll be the best kid ever. I'll do whatever good Christian kids do, I promise," he begged as he looked up at the moon. "If there's a God, the way that people talk in religion, then please. I will give my life to doing good if Daddy can find me soon. Please, I'll do anything, I'll be the best possible version of me and I won't complain," he shivered, "please help Dad find me." _

**End of Chapter Four**

**Thank you for reading, reviews are appreciated**

**Thank you to the reviewers of Chapter Three**

H-Nala, Kaname671, Kris XD, Paulagato, Reignashii, The Real Jackie-O

**AN 2: Long time since I've responded to reviews (since I stopped when I felt attacked months ago)**

The stone and Kyoko will help him and give him something from his past (a good thing) to take hold in. Julie of course is very emotional and Kuu is going to try to get as much help for Kuon as possible but now doesn't know why the hell Lory didn't tell him what he found out (it's not as evil as you might think)


	5. Chapter 5 - Mother

**AN: **Wow, it's been a while since I've been so passionate and excited about writing something only for it to gain an equal response back so it feels like a treasure to me, thank you. That being said, I hope you enjoy this chapter:

**Chapter Five - Mother**

Kuu and Julie exchanged glances with one another before Julie rushed to Kuon and knelt down in front of him, she rubbed his back. "Of course, of course you're good," she tried to tell him as she kissed the back of his head as he continued to rock himself. Kuu took a look at him feeling guilty and ashamed about how he had pushed Kuon into this state. He was glad that nobody else was watching them.

"Oh my darling," she whispered as she rubbed his back, "You're good. Nobody will hurt you and we can go home. Daddy and you and me, we're all going to go back home together. Okay, it'll be okay," she said before giving Kuu a look that she'd yell at him later. Kuu paled before nodding.

"We can go home," Kuu said weakly as he studied his son. Due to the pain and trauma his son had gone through, he wasn't able to regulate his emotions as an eighteen-year-old should. He didn't know how to help but he wanted to be there for his kid and help him work through this pain. "Let's go home and we can order something to eat," he suggested and Julie saw Kuon slowly rise, drained of most of his energy.

"Are you okay, my darling?" Julie asked as she saw the tears in his eyes.

"Please don't yell," Kuon managed to speak as he avoided eye contact with both of them. He looked as if he were about to throw up and Kuu nodded slowly, Julie wrapped her arms around him again.

"We won't, we won't yell around you again," she told him before seeing him try to pull away and stand up but he was weak on his feet. She took his hand and encouraged him to sit down again. "Kuu," she said without turning to him, "Can you get him something to drink," she put her hand to Kuon's shoulder and looked into those emerald eyes. "Is that okay?" she asked and he nodded.

"Tea," Kuon requested as he looked at the ground and Kuu nodded shakily as he returned to the kitchen. Julie looked up at Kuon, gently massaging his shoulder.

"I'm so sorry, baby" she said as she looked at him seeing him as both an eighteen-year-old and the twelve-year-old who had been taken from her. She couldn't believe that her little boy was here and despite all he had gone through, he was physically okay. There was such trauma in those eyes. "I shouldn't have yelled at your dad like that. Are you okay? You'll tell me if you're not okay, right?"

Kuon nodded shakily before hearing footsteps coming towards them.

"Am I interrupting?" Kyoko asked as she approached them and Julie shook her head. She put a hand to Kuon's shoulder and gazed at him lovingly.

"Have you met Kyoko?" she asked with a tilt of her head and Kuon nodded again, seeming to put up those protective walls around him again. Julie turned to Kyoko. "We'll be okay. Welcome home," she said and Kyoko nodded, her eyes not leaving the emotionally spent Kuon. He seemed so exhausted. Kyoko could only imagine that she would feel the same but she wouldn't have Kuu and Julie as her loving parents.

"Oh," Kyoko said with a smile as she looked towards the restaurant and then at the upstairs part where her bedroom was. "I promised to show you something," she said before grinning, Kuon looked at her before avoiding eye contact. "I'll be right back."

Julie hummed, "I wonder what that's about," she said before sitting in a chair and pulling it close to Kuon. "I love you," she whispered and took his hand. She smiled at him despite how distant he was. "Darling, we'll start slowly," she said though she felt they needed family counseling. "Are you hungry?" she asked before pushing his hair back feeling so lucky that he wasn't actually dead and he had at least fifty more years to live.

Kuon nodded before looking back at the restaurant, "I can eat," he said before staring down again.

"What do you want to eat?" Julie asked him trying to show him how loved and wanted he was.

"Umm…there's ramen," he pointed and Julie frowned. She wasn't asking him what there was but what he wanted to eat, she wanted to spoil him, she didn't just want to go for what was convenient.

"What are some of your favor-"

"I don't know," Kuon replied and Julie hummed as she watched him, "I haven't been asked that. I don't remember," he said and Julie opened her mouth to say something before Kuon looked down again. "Ramen is good."

"That gives us a good excuse to try different things," she tried to put a positive twist on it and Kuon smiled weakly before nodding.

"Yeah," he said and Julie put a hand on his shoulder again, tears filling her eyes. If she had been a better mother then her precious son wouldn't have suffered for six long years. She turned before seeing Kyoko approach them. The tea should be done soon but Julie was interested in what Kyoko had to say to Kuon. Maybe it was a way to help him feel better. Or it was probably that thing that Kyoko had shown her in the past and the connection she had to Kuon. Would that one summer be enough time for him to remember in the shadow of everything else?

"Hi," Kyoko said as she grabbed a chair facing the two of them, Julie had heard briefly that the two of them had met when Kuon had gone to Kyoto when he was a child and she had felt it was nice for them to meet with Kyoko and share love for Kuon but now that Kuon was back, what would happen to those memories?

"Is it okay if I sit here?" she asked before holding her hand out and in the middle was a blue stone that Kuon stared at and then looked at her, "Do you remember, Corn?" she asked and his eyes widened as he looked at her and laughed weakly before standing again and Julie immediately stood with her.

"You're…" he whispered and looked down. He took a shaky breath in, "Are you…the real Kyoko?" he asked and Kyoko squeaked a little with excitement but the look on his face made her stay quiet for a moment longer. "I'm…" Kuon turned away.

"It's okay," Kyoko tried to assure him. "It's okay, you don't need to say anything. I'm really glad to see you again, Corn," she sniffed. "When I thought that my precious fairy friend had -"

"No," Kuon whispered, "I'm not a fairy." He looked at her before looking away embarrassed, "I always counted you as one of the reasons why the world is good," he told her and Julie looked at him. Did he still have that old belief that the world was a good place, how could he have gone through all of that pain and kept that idea.

"I'd really like to get to know you," Kyoko told him and Kuon stiffened.

"I'm sorry, you've been misled. You shouldn't want to get to know me. I'm sorry for giving you the wrong impression," he told her and Kyoko opened her mouth to argue. "I need to…I need to go somewhere," he said as he looked around panicked. The world was spinning and Kyoko was worried that she had sprung too much on him all at once. Julie opened her arms wide and felt Kuon collapse down into them.

"I've got the tea-" Kuu said before seeing Julie sitting on the ground with Kuon's head in her lap and Kyoko looking down sadly. "What happened?" he asked as he started twitching from the nerves of what was going on and saw Julie gently pushing back her son's blond hair.

"He's okay," she said as she looked at him and shook her head to say that she didn't want to argue with him right now. "It's going to be okay."

…..

…..

_Julie had just been told that there was an emergency and she was needed back in America immediately but Kuu hadn't told her anything other than that. She had known there was something wrong though. She could tell that there was something going wrong and she had quickly apologized to the fashion designers and everyone else involved and left. Something was wrong._

_It wasn't until she got to the gate and found there to be a couple of police officers there instead of her husband and son that she got frightened over how bad something could be. She looked around, "Hello," she said as she tossed her hair back. "Is something wrong? I find it inappropriate that two officers meet me, I mean I am a famous model and actress…"_

"_We do need to talk with you immediately," one of the officers told her._

"_I thought that your husband had contacted you," the female officer said with a concerned look to her male partner. "After all, we're dealing with a murder case here." Julie looked at them and then saw the way that people were staring at her. She felt as if she had a huge spotlight pointed upon her. She was being charged for murder? Or she was being suspected for committing a murder?_

_When they got to the car and opened the door for her, Julie took a deep breath in. Nothing made sense. As she felt a sting to her reputation she tried to put on a hat and dark glasses to protect her identity. If the newspapers saw her riding in a police vehicle then the rumors would spread rapidly. "Might I ask whose murder you suspect me of?" she asked as she took out her phone to see if there were any messages. Many of their neighbors had called her but the news about Kuon hadn't been leaked to the press. _

"_We don't suspect you of murdering anyone," the woman told her and the man looked at her in shock._

"_I'm sorry, we thought that your husband had told you about…what happened? The alleged murder," he said and Julie looked at him for a moment before looking away as if to say that he was boring her. _

"_My husband told me?" she asked, "I mean, don't you have to read me my Miranda rights? Tell me I have the right to contact an attorney which I do have connections to," she said and the police woman stopped the car at the lights._

"_I'm sorry that I have to be the one to tell you this," she said slowly, "Late last night, the individual Kuon Hizuri was abducted from his home. We suspect from the evidence at the crime scene that it ended with the murder of the boy."_

_Julie froze as her eyes widened. She laughed weakly, no. She couldn't have heard that correctly. They were attempting to tell her that he precious Kuon, the boy that she cared more about than anything else, her treasured son had been abducted and then murdered. "I'm sorry, you must have made a mistake," she said slowly. She looked out the window. She didn't want to be in this car right now. There was no way that they had the right information._

"_I thought that police officers were good at doing their jobs," she shrugged and the officers shared a glance. _

"_I wish we weren't in a car right now, what was I thinking?" the female officer commented and then Julie heard words which would cause her nightmares for year._

"_We highly predict, Mrs. Hizuri, that your son, Kuon Hizuri is deceased." _

**End of Chapter Five**

**Thank you for reading, reviews are appreciated**

**A large part of next chapter will be focused on Kyoko and Kuon talking together (whilst alone)**

**Thank you to the reviewers of Chapter Four**

Brennakai, H-Nala, Kaname671, Kris XD, PaulaGaTo

**AN2:**

He's going to spend some time in both locations. There will be a scene between him and Kyoko and only those two in the next chapter 😊 Kuon is trying to get better but he doesn't have the same power over his emotions as other eighteen-year-olds he is still smart though so don't worry about that. Thank you so much for your support 😊


	6. Chapter 6 - Who Is He?

**AN: **Starting tomorrow I'm going to be working on some other fics as well. I've just had a hard time recently. This fic has definitely helped me through the hard parts so thanks for your support.

**Chapter Six – Who Is He?**

Julie looked through the rest of the bags that Kuu had brought back from his shopping trip. She had given him a list of things that they needed to get for Kuon. It was just a preliminary list with some health products, his medicine, some clothes. The doctors – and hopefully Kuon himself – would tell her if there was anything missing. She had to admit that Kuu had at least bought a decent selection of clothing whilst she stayed in the house, Kuon in the guest room taking a nap.

He had woken up for a short time to get some of the bags but Julie was worried about him. The Kuon that she had lost had been happy and excited and talkative and he would always be able to talk about his passions and the things that excited him. _This_ Kuon was a lot more reserved and distant but she didn't blame him. He had come out of the horrible existence they had forced him through and she just wanted to see him get better.

"I've prepared the food," Kuu said as he returned from the dining room.

He had only cooked a small portion of the selection and bought other parts from his trip out. He also had some ramen from the restaurant. Even though they had bought a lot of food, it wasn't guaranteed that Kuon would eat anything at all.

"Kuu," Julie said as she looked at him with a frown but then shook her head, no, it wasn't worth getting angry with him right now. He already knew how hurt she was. "I'm…I can't forgive what you did but I love you and I'm going to be angry with you for a little bit, it's my right as his mother but we have to find a way of not fighting. I don't want to yell at you. I don't want to trigger him again."

"Julie," Kuu said weakly, "I wasn't sure myself. I should have told you as soon as I got that phone call but I was…I messed up, I'm allowed to mess up, right? I am still human."

Julie sighed before nodding and bowed her head, "Yes, you're still human but so am I and I don't want to yell. It might frighten him and we have to work together to prove to him that he's safe," she said and the brunette nodded in agreement. When Kuon had been with them, he had purposefully dyed his hair blond to match his wife and son but without Kuon there, he hadn't kept up with the upkeep and his hair had turned to its natural shade.

Kuu was about to respond but they heard a creak on the stairs and both looked up to see Kuon wearing an emerald turtleneck sweater and jeans. Julie smiled as she saw that they fit. At least he had some new clothes.

"H-Hey," he said as he looked between them and Julie felt the tears in her eyes now that he had showered and rested and was wearing new clothes. Kuu took a couple of steps towards the staircase but saw Kuon manage to get down by himself. "I smell food," he said and Julie nodded.

"There's a lot of food so you can eat as much and whichever kind that you like," she said and Kuon nodded again.

"How are you feeling?" Kuu asked, "Was the bed warm enough? We can get a new one if you want or at least new sheets and pillows."

"The bed felt amazing," Kuon replied and Kuu looked at him sadly, he felt that he would never know what conditions Kuon was living through before his return. He looked around before finally coming all the way downstairs and walked towards the dining room, Kuu and Julie just watching him move. Julie got to him first and kissed his cheek, smoothing down his hair.

"Just eat what you want to eat," she said as she rubbed his back and turned to Kuu. She opened her mouth to say something, mostly concerned about the publicity that Kuon could bring, but shook her head, they could discuss it later.

Kuon sat down in a seat between the two, marveling at the size of another room before sitting with his hands on his lap. Julie looked to him before gesturing to the food.

"Take whatever looks good to you," she told him, "I didn't cook any of it this time," she tried to joke and Kuon just sat there, staring at it. Kuu waited for Kuon to take something before he did but Kuon just stared at the food.

"Is there something else that you wa-" Kuu asked as he leaned forwards to watch his son and Kuon looked at him nervously.

"I can take anything?" he asked and both Kuu and Julie nodded, concerned about how he wasn't confident at all anymore and he was scared of the world around him, not able to connect. Kuon reached out and put some food on his plate.

"We love you, son" Kuu told him and Julie nodded as she watched him before reaching for some food herself.

"We really do, you're our Kuon."

…

…

Kyoko woke up early to hear noise from the downstairs area again, she looked at the clock. Today she would be helping out a little more since it was the weekend but she hadn't expected for Kuu to come in so early when he had Kuon back in his life. Kyoko smiled excitedly. She wanted to have another chance with Corn because despite the pain he had been through, there was still Corn underneath. She hoped to see him and so she quickly got changed and took a shower. Squeezing her hair out, she put a towel over her shoulders and came down in comfortable clothing.

As she walked with her slippers on, she saw Kuu standing in the kitchen with Kuon right next to him. She smiled as she watched the two of them with neither of them really noticing her arrival.

"You've got to kind of push it, don't be afraid to show some force to it," Kuu said as he taught Kuon how to make noodles. It was something that he only really taught the more experienced staff and though he had taught Kyoko, she only rarely did it.

Kuon put a hand on it before shaking his head, "I'm okay watching," he said knowing how important the restaurant was to his father. This was the joy that he had found after thinking that Kuon was dead. He didn't want to tarnish that joy.

"Are you sure?" Kuu asked as he looked at the dough. "So, after I do this, I'll cut it into strips and we can talk or have tea or something," he said and Kuon nodded in a distant manner. Kuu sighed, he had hoped Kuon would open up a bit more but that was his selfish desire. After what Kuon had been through, it was good that he trusted him at all.

Kuon turned his head before seeing Kyoko standing there, "Morning," he said with a nod of his head and Kyoko dropped down into a formal bow.

"Good morning," she smiled to both of them before hearing Kuu's phone start ringing. She paused and Kuu went to pick it up before growling and throwing it down. Kyoko tilted her head, she had no idea that it was the president calling Kuu to apologize for what he had kept from him and Kuu refusing to accept that apology or the explanation for it.

"Have you…have you ea…eaten?" Kuon asked softly and Kyoko shook her head. "There's some bread and some fruit," he gestured to the staff's back room and Kyoko smiled.

"I love fruit," she said and Kuon nodded. "Did you want to eat some together?" she asked him and Kuon nodded before looking at his father.

"You two enjoy, I'm going to finish this up," he said hoping that some time with Kyoko would be enough to put light in Kuon's eyes once again. Kuu saw the two of them leave and set to work with preparing the food for the day. He took quick looks at the room where Kuon and Kyoko were before hearing a knock at the back door. Thinking it was Julie, Kuu headed over there and opened the door. He frowned as he saw Lory standing there.

"Shuuhei, hear me out," he said and Kuu stared at him.

"Why would I do that?" he asked bitterly. "You _knew_ that Kuon was alive at least in the beginning and you didn't tell me. Hearing that he had been sold to gang leaders, abused, that haunts me but it would be better than to continue to think that he's dead. I can't believe you would want to put a father through that pain."

Lory shook his head, "At the time -"

"Listen," Kuu said slowly, "I don't actually give a damn about what your explanation is or what you think it should be because the truth is that I could have saved him, had more time with him, experienced his teenage years with him, you robbed me of that."

Lory closed his eyes, "I know and I'm so-"

"You need to apologize to Kuon and not to me because I don't care about your explanations. I care about Kuon. Maybe in the future I'll listen to you but I won't today," Kuu told him stubbornly and Lory pushed a hand through his own hair.

"I have something else important to tell you about Kuon, hopefully it will make up for it," he said and Kuu paused, his fists at his side and he shook his head, turning to go back inside. How did Lory even _think_ that he could make up for hiding this truth from him?

"Kuon murdered his last captor," he said and Kuu stopped but his expression didn't change as he heard that. He bowed his head before starting to chuckle about it darkly. He didn't care, was that wrong? Killing an innocent victim would have been wrong but killing in self-defense to escape something traumatic, he was glad that his son had had that strength. "There were a number of other captives but it looks like three men died by Kuon's hand. It's considered self-defense in America but if he killed on one occas-"

"Should I care?" Kuu asked and Lory stopped, looking at him a little confused. Kuu turned looking refreshed and smiled, "Do you think I care?" he asked before shrugging. "So, what?" he asked and Lory looked at him as if Kuu had just shrugged off a terrorist plot.

"Shuuhei, I'm telling you that he murder-"

"Good." Kuu looked to Lory as the older man looked at him as if he had finally snapped. "Good. I'm glad. I still don't care. I don't care that he killed somebody, three somebodies. What I care about is my son is alive, he kept other people alive. Should I care? Is there a reason for me to care?"

"Just because the police won't charge him," Lory tried to argue and Kuu shrugged, acting as if he had just been told that it was going to rain and he should take an umbrella with him.

"Then I really shouldn't _have_ to care," he said as he walked away from his former-friend. This didn't change the way he looked at Kuon. Kuon had done what he had needed to in order to survive. Kuu just cared about him finding light in his life and overcoming that darkness and feeling of not having power.

…..

…..

Kyoko smiled as she ate some of the fresh strawberries that Kuu had bought, she saw Kuon looking at her with a smile. "These are really good," she grinned and Kuon nodded before pinching off some of his bread and eating it. "So, I'm sorry that I sprang that on you yes-"

"It's okay," Kuon smiled, "I like having you close even if it is a miracle. How did you find out who I was?"

"I started working here before I did," Kyoko explained, "it was like fate."

"Or a coincidence," Kuon shrugged.

Kyoko shook her head, "Too meaningful to be a coincidence," she said to him before looking down. "You have always been my fairy prince, Kuon. Even when I found out you were human, you've always given me hope and taken away my tears and I was so sad when I was told you were no longer with us."

Kuon smiled, "You kept me alive," he told her, "you offered me your friendship."

"Who wouldn't want to be friends with a fairy prince?" Kyoko winked and Kuon looked down nervously. Kyoko put her hand over his. "It's okay. It's okay," she repeated and he smiled to her.

"I don't know if I can be the same person as I was before," he told her and Kyoko shook her head with a smile.

"Then I look forward to getting to know you all over again," she assured him before sighing and thinking about what had happened once she had relocated to Tokyo with Shotaro. "I'm not the same either," she said and he shook his head before saying something troubling to her.

"Compared to me, you are the same girl you always have been."

**End of Chapter Six**

**Thank you for reading, reviews are appreciated**

**Thank you to the reviewers of Chapter Five**

Brennakai, H-Nala, Kaname671, Kris XD, PaulaGaTo

**AN2:**

Well what Kuu and Julie care about most is spending more time with Kuon. There will have to be a lot of therapy later.


	7. Chapter 7 - Lies

**AN: **I didn't know it had been so long since I updated this fic. I've had some tough stuff happen since I did. My (nearly) fifteen-year-old kitty had to be put to sleep because she had end of life kidney failure. I also got a warning that there would be disciplinary action if I didn't change my behavior at work. I've been trying really hard but I can't cure having bipolar disorder/borderline personality disorder.

Anyway, what I mean to say is thank you for your patience in the update.

**Chapter Seven - Lies**

Kyoko looked to Kuu and Kuon as they stood in the restaurant together. It was the afternoon and Kyoko had returned from school carrying some large books. Kuon had gone over to them and was studying them with a curious look on his face. Kyoko turned to Kuu knowing that Kuon hadn't been to school since he was a kid. You didn't really have the luxury of going to school when you were being sold as property.

"Did you want to look at them?" Kyoko asked as Kuu tried to approach Kuon slowly, hoping not to startle his son and trigger something. He saw the interest in Kuon's eyes. Maybe he should try to figure out a way of homeschooling or at least working towards the equivalent of a high school degree.

"No, it's interesting," Kuon said as he turned to her. "The Meiji Restoration."

"Oh that was a time period o -" Kyoko tried to explain but Kuon caught her off, looking at the two of them a little nervous and drawn back. He bowed his head.

"The Meiji Restoration was a the time of the Boshin War which lasted from the 27th of January 1868 to the 27th of June 1869. The Meiji Restoration allowed for the emperors to reclaim the imperial rule starting with Emperor Meiji. Before this, Japan had been ruled over by the shogunate structure to be specific the Tokugawa shogunate," Kuon looked back to Kuu and Kyoko who were staring at him impressed and in shock that he knew all of this. They were in shock that an American boy who had been abducted when he was a preteen actually knew information like this about a Japanese time period.

"That's right, isn't it?" Kuon asked unsure as he listened to the silence and they both nodded slowly.

"Impressive," Kuu commented and Kyoko tilted her head to the side.

"How did you learn that?" she asked and Kuon bowed his head and shook it. He didn't want to tell his father that he used to steal books and read by a crack in the window where the moon shone. He wanted to absorb as much information about the outside world as possible so that he could at least mentally and emotionally escape the world that he had been in.

"Does it matter?" he asked them and Kyoko opened her mouth slowly and turned back to Kuu.

"No, it doesn't matter how you learned it. I'm impressed," he tried to smile. His son had been making use of resources which might not have been readily available to him and were most likely not but he had been reading and learning and even if it had seemed hopeless he had been trying, that was most likely the key to his survival.

"Thanks," Kuon shrugged before returning to the kitchen.

Kuu watched him. There was so much sadness in his body language. There had to be a way of helping him cope with that. Maybe some type of therapy or psychiatric help, Kuon had seemed to be open to that. He approached him slowly. "So, did you want me to see if there's a way of you returning to acting?" he proposed and Kuon felt his body tense.

"It's really fun," Kyoko tried to persuade him, "I'm sure that you'd be amazing at it. I only started a little time ago but I'm already learning more about myself and working to be the best form of me that I can be. Acting has helped me see some of the beauty and magic that exists in this world."

"I'm fine," Kuon said as he returned to helping his father with his work. Kuu looked over at him, his emotions scaring him with how Kuon seemed to be wanting to isolate himself. When he was a kid, he had wanted to become an actor but now that he was exposed to the harsher reality, his dreams seemed to have changed. He appreciated the motivation that Kyoko had behind her words but there had to be a better way of helping him.

"I'm going to call a few of my contacts see if there's a doctor that we can go see tomorrow morning," he suggested and Kuon turned to him nervously.

"I already scheduled something for this evening," he said and Kuu blinked trying to take that in. Kuon looked to him apologetically, "they were on the list of names on your desk. I thought that it might be better sooner rather than later."

"Yeah," Kuu said nervously as he nodded to himself, "this evening sounds good, yes, I think I can take this evening off," he said as he tried to figure out what the schedule was for the restaurant. He wanted to be there with Kuon when he went to speak with somebody. He didn't want for his son to feel that he had to face the world alone any longer.

"I can go by myself," Kuon tried to tell him but Kuu stared at him uneasily. "I can do this," he promised him and Kuu shifted.

He nodded feeling that he wanted to argue with Kuon and feeling the need to be with him but he also knew that that twelve year old wasn't there anymore. Kuon was seventeen. He was an adult. His childhood had been taken away from him and Kuu had no way of restoring it for him.

…..

…..

_Kuu sat with a blank expression on his face on the bed where his little boy used to sleep. They hadn't changed anything in this room for the three or so months that he had been gone apart from cleaning the dirty clothes and removing a glass. This was the way that his son had left the bedroom. This was his own private room in the house and yet it wasn't going to ever have him in it again._

_Kuu knew that he looked awful. Somehow he had managed to complete the ongoing contracts but now that he wasn't doing any work, his roots were showing and the blond of his hair had faded. He also had a beard now that he wasn't taking too much care of. He held onto a teddy bear that the infant Kuon had snuggled up to and looked at the pictures of his friends and family that he had pinned to a corkboard._

_There was nothing left of his son anymore. He was gone and though Kuu desperately wanted to fight for the belief that he was still out there somewhere, it might be time to face the facts that Kuon was most likely never going to return. _

"_I was told that I might find you here, Shuuhei," Lory chuckled as he stood in the doorway but Kuu didn't even turn to look back at him. He was frightened of this room changing and the remains of Kuon disappearing into nothing. He wanted his little boy back. If he could have any wish, it would be to have his little boy back._

"_Hey, boss" Kuu said as he stared blankly in front of him. _

"_Did you want to come and have some tea with Julie and me?" Lory asked as he stepped forward and Kuu shook his head. He looked at the teddy bear that had belonged to his son. He shouldn't have even been a parent. He hadn't protected the young boy. He should have had a friend looking after him if he needed to leave Kuon alone for a night. He shouldn't have put that much pressure on a twelve year old kid. _

"_Do you think there's any chance of him being alive?" Kuu asked, he had struggled with that question for months but despite his want to find Kuon, nothing had even given him a clue to him being alive. He was wishing on anything and trying to make sense of it. He would kill to get his son back if he was alive. It didn't matter how he would have to do it or who he would have to kill. Kuon would be alive and safe and that was all he wanted. He would even sell his soul to the devil to get it._

"_If he was alive then it would probably be in a state worse than death," Lory tried to remind him and Kuu bowed his head._

"_I understand that," he said wishing that there was some way of saving his child. "Still, he'd be alive. We could rescue him and then it would be better than him being dead. If we rescued him. I mean, things would be bad for some time but even if he had been maimed or disabled or raped then…then he could recover and he'd be able to live. We'd support him. Julie and I would do anything to support him even if it meant that we had to quit our jobs in order to take care of him."_

"_You'd do that even if he was disabled?" Lory said uneasily._

"_It would be hard to see him in any pain but anything, even if he had a head injury and he was disabled in that way, we would do anything to take care of him. Do you think there is any chance of him being alive?" Kuu asked with shining eyes. _

"_No," Lory hesitated and Kuu shivered, "No. I don't think there is."_

…..

…..

Kuu had to know for sure why someone he had trusted as much as Lory Takarada had lied to him and kept information from him about what had happened to Kuon. Even if there didn't seem to be any hope in his findings, Kuu would have done everything he could to at least find out what had happened to his son and to take revenge on the people who had hurt him.

He had come to LME, ignoring the people who were gossiping about him. He was a man on a mission and despite him disliking the affection that people were directing to him, he had to find out what the truth was. He spotted Lory down a corridor and made his way towards him.

"Shuuhei, this is a surpr-" Lory said before seeing the anger on his old friend's face. He paused and nodded to Ruto who was carefully studying the brunette former-actor.

"I need to know the truth," Kuu said as he felt his breath catch in his throat. "How long did you know that Kuon wasn't dead?" he asked and Lory paused, watching him carefully. "I demand to know the truth. How long a period of time was it? Weeks? Days?"

"Does it matter?" Lory asked and Kuu felt a cold chill sweep through his body. Of course it mattered. He tried to resist making any kind of physical attacks. He didn't want to punch Lory. As disgusted as he was, he needed to figure out the truth. "I was never even sure that he would still be alive."

"You could have told me that there was a chance," he said and Lory shook his head.

"Telling a grieving father that, giving him false hope, that was something that I didn't feel it best to do. To my knowledge, being in the type of situation that Kuon had been in. It was better if you didn't know that information. How would you feel knowing that not only was your son dead but that he had been captured and tortured for months after the incident, how would you feel knowing he had been raped?"

Kuu shook his head, he didn't want to hear this because it honestly didn't matter. He would at least have been able to try to track down his son or hire people to make absolutely certain that he wasn't alive. "At least I would have been able to find out if he was alive," he growled.

He looked at Lory before feeling an anger filling his entire body. He shook his head and walked off, "You're not worth it," he stated as he felt the pain in his heart. Had it been his fault that Kuon hadn't been found? Was he truly the greatest failure of a father?

**End of Chapter Seven**

**Thank you for reading, reviews are appreciated**

**Thank you to the reviewers of Chapter Six**

H-Nala, Kaname671, Kris XD, paulagato, The Real Jackie-O


	8. Chapter 8 - Guilt

**Chapter Eight - Guilt**

_Kuon sighed as he looked at the burns on his hand and felt the sting of the bruises on his body but he continued to look at the book. He was a little upset that he was already fifteen, his birthday had passed and he hadn't even been aware of it. Still, this book was about astronomy and the planets. Maybe it was information he had already learned and not very important to every day life but at least he was learning._

"_You know," one of the girls who was being kept with him said and Kuon turned to her. He hated that he couldn't do anything to help her and all the attempts that he had made had cost him greatly. "They're never gonna need you to be smart or nothing. You should put the books away."_

_Kuon studied her. The girl was a privileged white girl who had had her life planned out for her before she got pulled down into the cellar. She was seventeen and Kuon hated that he had been hurt trying to save her, she hadn't helped him at all. "When this is all over," he said and the girl shook her head looking away._

_Kuon wasn't going to give up hoping. Even if everyone around him thought that he would never have any chance of living a normal life, he wanted to try to improve himself because he could get out of here someday. As he heard a noise from above and saw two of the gang members, he attempted to hide the book._

"_Come on," one of the men in their thirties said as he held a gun. "One of you brats must know how to work with chemicals," he said and Kuon tried to hide the book. He didn't want to be in the spotlight. He was now learning how much power the people behind the scenes had and he didn't want to be a lead actor any longer. "Who's smart of you all."_

"_Blondie was reading a book," the girl said and Kuon looked up as the man came over to him and snatched the book from him, pointing a gun at his head._

"_Science book, great, perfect fit," he laughed and Kuon paled. Every time a new assignment came up he was getting to be farther and farther away from home. He just wanted to be lectured by his parents again, either one of his parents. _

…..

…

"So," the psychiatrist said as he sat opposite Kuon, he watched the blond feel a little fidgety and uncomfortable in the room. "Kuon-san, I can call you Ku-"

"Yeah, yeah," Kuon said quickly as he pushed his hand over his neck. "Kuon's good. It's good."

"Have you always been a pretty nervous kid?" the psychiatrist asked and Kuon shook his head, looking down feeling very exposed and in his recent past it was bad to be exposed. You didn't want the spotlight to be focused on you because the special ones were always the ones dealt with worst.

"I'm sorry," Kuon laughed, "What do I call you?" he asked and the psychiatrist sat back.

"How about Takanabe?" he suggested and Kuon looked down before looking up at him the way that a middle school child might. It was hard. In some ways Kuon had grown up too quickly but in others he had never even had a chance to grow up.

"I wasn't always nervous," Kuon told him and Takanabe nodded, "my parents always told me how independent I was. How much they loved how brave I could be, how I wasn't going to just stand by and watch other kids get hurt but now. I don't trust myself. I don't trust myself to do what's right."

Takanabe watched him, writing down on his notepad as he listened, "What do you mean by that? Are you trying to say that you don't understand morally what the right thing is or are you saying that you lack the experience of -"

"My emotions get triggered before I realize what's happening," Kuon argued back and Takanabe nodded. "I get angry and I break a table, I get scared or sad and I can't handle the emotion, I can't process it. It's like when you have a caged bird and the bird has always wanted to fly but you take the bird outside, you open the cage door and the bird doesn't know how to handle the transition. I used to be considered mature for my age and now I'm just a freaking joke."

"I think all of those are symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder," Takanabe commented, "Do you want to go over what -"

"I know what post traumatic stress disorder is!" Kuon snapped back without meaning to. He sighed and looked down. He hadn't meant to do that, he tried to calm himself. "I just…I can't act in the ways that I am doing so. I hate to admit it but I feel that I need my parents and I don't want my father to not be able to handle me coming back into his life. He's already found a replacement for me."

"I'm sure that whoever you're talking about isn't a replacement for you. Do you consider your dad a loving person?" Takanabe inquired and Kuon nodded. "Then I highly doubt that he is someone who considers others as any type of replacement for his own son."

Kuon sighed before looking down. He hadn't wanted to be an inconvenience to his father but now he felt unsafe without him. It was different than if he was running away alone, that he could handle but trying to deal with his problems alone was more difficult despite how it should be the other way around.

"I have to…I have to get some fresh air," Kuon said as he stood up quickly. "I'm really…I'm really sorry," he panicked. He tried to steady himself. He should be able to do these things by himself, he was an adult man now but he still felt the fear that a little kid would if they were trying to pretend to be an adult. Kuon walked out the door and sighed as he pushed his hand through his hair and then looked to the ground. Maybe talking with his dad would help him to process this a little better.

As Kuon looked down the hallway though he saw his father pacing in a figure eight whilst also putting chocolate into his mouth. Kuon paused as he watched him and felt a breath of relief flow through him. He walked over to his dad who didn't seem to be paying attention to what was around him. He came over and stopped, "Hey," he said with a tilt of his head, "do you think I could ask you for a favor?"

"Kuon?" Kuu asked before looking around. "What is it? Are you okay? Did something happen?" Kuu asked nervously and Kuon could see how he was sweating a little from his own nerves.

"Do you mind sitting in there with me, I don't need for you to participate but it would be good to have some support," he said and Kuu nodded quickly. He would of course do that for his son. He followed Kuon back to the room and Takanabe stood up and bowed to them. "This is my dad, is it okay for him to listen to our session."

"If you're okay with it, then I'm okay with it," Takanabe said as Kuu bowed during his own introduction, "It's up to you, Kuon-san, but I'm wondering if you want to voice the previous concern you made to your father and see what his reaction is."

Kuon shifted uncomfortably before nodding, "I don't want you to leave or ask me to leave because I don't function normally any longer," he said and Kuu's face turned to one of complete shock and horror at the thought of that.

Kuu took steady breaths and put a hand to Kuon's shoulder. "Listen to me very carefully. Your mother and I love you, you are our son, our very precious and much loved son. We will always have a place for you. As for how you act, we understand and there is nothing that you can do that will cause for either of us to turn our backs on you. We want to help you but we need you to communicate with us about any triggers or signs that we can use. We love you, Kuon. I love you. You are my beloved son, there is nobody in this world that can take your place. You are extremely wanted."

"Even if I knock down a few walls out of anger," Kuon said with a weak laugh but Kuu nodded.

"Yes, even then because there is always more brick or wood but there isn't another you. Even if you burned the house down, we would always want you. I'm sorry that I didn't find you sooner but please let me take care of you now."

"That wasn't your fau-" Kuon protested but Kuu shook his head.

"Just let me be your father," Kuu told him, "that is all I am asking for. Please allow me to be your father."

…

…

As Julie heard the door open, she rushed over and saw an exhausted Kuon standing next to a very concerned Kuu. She paused as she looked between the two of them. She sighed, she wasn't expecting the first visit to go by without complication but she wanted there to be more happy memories than sad ones. "Hello, darling," Julie said as she hugged Kuon close to her and he looked down before pushing a hand through his hair and taking a step back from her.

"Mom, Dad, there's something that I need to tell you that…that I don't….I'm sorry," he dropped into a low bow and both of them watched him with panicked eyes. Julie reached out to put a hand on his back. "I did something really bad."

"I know," Kuu nodded, "and I also know that the police have said its self-defense and there will be no prosecution on that fact."

Julie looked between her son and her husband. Kuon stared at Kuu confused wondering how he had heard that and Julie paused as she tried to work out what had happened. Finally, she turned to Kuon and looked into those gorgeous emerald eyes.

"What is it, darling?" she asked and Kuon shifted nervously.

"I killed somebody when I was escaping. They were about to kill one of the women, they could have killed everybody. It happened so fast and I don't know what happened but I killed somebody," he said as his heart pounded in his chest, "There is somebody who is dead because of me."

"Are you telling me that you protected a young lady from an attacker who could have killed all of you, someone who kept all of you hostage for who knows how long?" Julie asked and Kuon looked down, nodding his head sadly and Julie stepped forwards, wrapping her son up in her arms again. Kuu looked at him proudly, it took a lot to be honest about this type of thing when you were already scared of rejection.

"You do know that you're not a murderer, right?" she asked him as she gently massaged his back.

"I killed somebody doesn't tha-" Kuon said and Julie shook her head, pulling him even closer.

"No. A real murderer wouldn't show his regret the way that you've just done," she told him "This man did real harm to you, it's natural to want him dead but you feel guilty because you're a caring person even to those who don't deserve you to care about them."

"So, I can stay?" Kuon asked weakly and Julie put her hands on his cheeks and forced him to look at her.

"I wouldn't want for you to be anywhere else," she told him honestly as he tried to smile but there were years of pain in his eyes and that hurt wouldn't magically disappear overnight.

**End of Chapter Eight**

**Thank you for reading**

**Thank you to the reviewers of Chapter Seven**

H-Nala, Kaname671, Kris XD, PaulaGaTo, The Real Jackie-O


	9. Chapter 9 - In Need Of Medicine

**Chapter Nine – In Need Of Medicine**

Kyoko finished looking over a part in the script that she was practicing for the acting classes. She was dedicated to proving her skills as she mouthed over each part of the sentence whilst on her break. She tapped the words, trying to use different emphasis on the words paired with different emotions. Her concentration was only broken when she heard somebody coming in from the back of the restaurant.

She looked up with a grin that dimmed when she noticed that it was just Kuu there. She really did enjoy the times that she spent with Kuu but she had been hoping that Kuon would be there as well. She had become quite curious in him especially knowing that he used to be Corn but she couldn't state that. She didn't view him as an oddity but there was a fear in Kuu that that _was_ the way that people were looking at Kuon. Rather, she wanted to get to know him on a personal level.

"Something wrong?" Kuu asked as he studied her and Kyoko sat up straighter. She shook her head and looked straight in front of her. "Come on, Kyoko," he said as he walked over to her and pulled out a chair. "You've never been this quiet before…okay, you have, but the two of us know that eventually I am going to ask you to tell me what you've been thinking."

Kyoko nodded and closed her eyes, "I was thinking…about Kuon-san," she said and Kuu remained neutral in his face. This made Kyoko worried. Even before Kuon had come back, Kuu had always smiled when he thought about his son but his eyes weren't holding contact with her own and she couldn't quite read his expression.

"Kyoko, are you sure that this is something that you want to talk to me about?" he asked as he raised an eyebrow as if warning her in some way. Kyoko sighed but nodded. "Okay. What pressing questions do you have with my son?"

Kyoko sighed. Kuu was being very formal so something must have happened between the last time she saw him and how he was today. Had something gone wrong with Kuon? Hadn't he said that he would be seeing a psychiatrist or something…had something gone wrong with that?

"What is he going to do?" Kyoko asked and Kuu looked at her. "I'm sorry," Kyoko said quickly before standing up so she could get into a deep bow. "I'm so sorry for being so forward, it really is none of my business, I'm sorry," she said as she stayed in a deep bow and Kuu chuckled.

"Whatever he wants to, I guess," he replied and Kyoko tilted her head to the side as she studied him. "I don't know. I haven't asked him, I should ask him."

"Is he going to wor-" Kyoko said and Kuu looked at her with exhausted and pained eyes.

"He can do whatever he wants. He's missed out on so many years of his life already. He can do whatever he wants and I'm going to help him do that. I don't even know who he is anymore," Kuu sighed and Kyoko looked at him confused before trying to give an honest smile.

"Yes, you do. He's still the same person on the inside, he has to be the same person on the inside," she said and Kuu laughed bitterly, he shook his head. As much as he wanted to believe that Kuon was the same person on the inside, that just didn't make sense in his mind. How could someone go through everything that Kuon had gone through and not be cracked or twisted in any kind of a manner. He looked down and then closed his eyes. As much as he wanted to believe he knew who Kuon was, did he even have the right to believe that any longer?

…

…

Kyoko had worked hard that night and the fact that the customers had left happily meant that it was worth it to her. She liked being able to help the Hizuri family and especially Kuu who had taken her in as if she were his niece. She walked up the stairs after checking the locks and froze as she heard sounds coming from the spare room. Her eyes widened. She knew that Kuu had gone home for the night and she hadn't seen anyone enter or come up here.

"Hello," she called out as she saw the light from the crack underneath the door. She grabbed a clock and went to the room before deciding to make a quick entrance. She froze as she saw Kuon sitting on the floor with books at his side. "He-Hey," she said as she attempted to catch her breath and Kuon looked to her with a tilt of his head.

"Hey, sorry, I thought that….you had no idea I was up here, did you?" he asked as he smiled to her and Kyoko stood up straight with a weak laugh. She saw the books next to him and then that he also had files about getting the equivalent to a high school diploma and different online schools and even physical universities that he could go to.

"It's okay," Kyoko said, "this is more of your place than mine," she said. She saw Kuon about to object but shook her head, she took a step forward. "What are you looking at?" she asked as she tried to see the books but he had them turned facing the wall. She saw the nervousness on his face. "Are you still thinking of being an actor?" she asked and Kuon paused.

"I don't know," he told her honestly and Kyoko knelt down opposite him, her eyes catching the title of one of the books 'A Very Brief Intro To Modern Medicine'. She studied it and then looked into the emerald eyes that always caught her off guard, "Kuu-sama has always said that you wanted to be an actor."

"There's nothing wrong with acting," Kuon said knowing full well that Kyoko had landed at the point where she could see her dreams come true in the acting field. He wanted to provide her hope and happiness and a fulfilling life but he wasn't sure where he belonged. Acting just meant that he would have to pretend and sometimes pretending was much better than facing your own pain.

"But you don't want to be an actor?" Kyoko asked and Kuon looked at the books again.

"There's not much of a chance of me actually becoming a doctor but maybe I could become a nurse, a physical therapist, maybe even a police officer," he said and Kyoko watched him. She could hear by the tone of his voice that he had gone through some heavy pains in his life but he didn't want to just throw in the towel and quit and claim that he had been through enough pain in his life.

"Why would you say that?" Kyoko asked, "You can be a doctor. You're smart and I don't see how Kuu-sama wouldn't support you with this," she told him and Kuon paused and closed his eyes as he created a fist but then opened it and put his palm on the floor.

"My dad wants the boy that he raised to come back, he doesn't understand that I'm not entirely that boy anymore. I don't want to tell him that I wonder what it would be like to try to undo some of the pain in the world. My dad wants me to act and I might as well just give that a shot," he said and Kyoko looked at him fiercely.

"Don't live your life on what other people want you to do," she said and Kuon blinked as he watched her. "I'm serious. Don't live thinking that Kuu-sama wants something a certain way without talking to him about it," Kyoko said passionately before they both heard a sound from the kitchen.

Kyoko sat up but Kuon put a hand to her shoulder. He shook his head and then went down the stairs with Kyoko following closely behind him. Kuon sighed as he saw that Kuu was in the kitchen, looking out of the window. Kuu smiled in relief as he saw Kuon and Kyoko put a hand to Kuon's upper arm.

"I…I forgot to….I forgot to print the recipes…the menu," Kuu stumbled as he tried to cover up for how worried he had been about Kuon and how he had had to come back to the restaurant in order to check up on him. He felt that he was being a very overprotective parent in doing that.

"I'll make sure to have them for you in the morning," Kyoko smiled and Kuu nodded as he kept his head bowed and Kyoko looked to them. She turned to see the fear on Corn's face. "You should just tell him," she said and Kuu's head jolted up as he turned to Kuon and watched him. The words 'tell him' going around in his brain.

"Tell him?" Kuu panicked and Kuon looked away, he felt a little guilty about the panic that his dad still had but they were all going through this trauma, his parents' trauma might pale in comparison to his but they still had believed their son had been murdered. He needed to have as much patience with his father as he wanted his father to have with him.

"I've been considering possible options for my future," Kuon told him and Kuu watched him silently, respectfully. "I think that I might want to consider acting and I might want to consider something in the medical field as well. There's a lot of pain in the world and I want to help people, I don't want to create any more pain in the world."

There was silence before Kuu nodded and smiled. "You'd do amazingly as a doctor. I can help you figure out the first steps if you want to. We can do that tonight." He offered and Kyoko grinned to Kuon as he seemed to teeter on the edge of whether to really try to help others or whether to try to cover up his pain through following his father's dream.

….

….

"_I can't help you, help yourself," one of the other boys was saying as the three of them sat together in a very small space where katana could drop on them at any moment. These particular crime lords really did want to use them as target practice and if Kuon was too quick, they'd hurt him anyway. He had learned to just accept pain and know that as long as he was feeling pain, he was still alive._

"_Please, it really hurts," the other boy – the youngest of them – said and Kuon saw a little space on his side. He moved back and managed to angle his head so that he could see the boy's reflection off of one of the swords. They had broken his arm and there was no way that they would get medical attention._

"_You want to hold your arm as close to your body as possible," Kuon said before ripping off his sleeve. As he moved forward he saw that the boy's arm wasn't broken but his collar bone was sprained. "Okay," he said before making a temporary sling out of the dirty shirt sleeve. "Keep it there for as long as possible and try to think of something other than the pain."_

"_Like your damned voice, Hizuri," the third boy barked and the younger boy looked at him._

"_What do you think of?" he asked and Kuon smiled as he kept his eyes closed and lent his head back._

"_My dad. I never needed any super heroes if my dad was there." _

**End of Chapter Nine**

**Thank you for reading, reviews are appreciated**

**Thank you to the reviewers of Chapter Eight**

H-Nala, Kaname671, Kris XD, The Real Jackie-O


	10. Chapter 10 - Observations

**Chapter Ten - Observations**

_As Kuu got out of the cab at the set location, he looked around and noticed that people were staring at him. It wasn't uncommon for a celebrity to be stared at in Hollywood, that was actually one of the most expected things but he felt that he was very conspicuous. His son had died a week ago and he was returning to work, he felt selfish about that. He could barely breathe but he would have to use all of his skills in order to make it through the contracts which he needed to complete._

_He had once said that not even a death should make it so that you are unable to complete an acting contract once it's signed. Yes, he had said that but he had never believed that it would be his son who he was mourning. He had a belief that he was still out there though. He was out there and just wasn't able to return home just yet but they'd save him. _

_As Kuu turned, he saw a newspaper stand and blinked. He couldn't smile unless he got into character but there was a magazine that had pictures of Kuon on it. He stared at it, moving over and saw that someone had written about Kuon's short life. He hadn't known about this. He grabbed about ten copies and slammed them down on the counter._

"_I need to buy these," he said desperately and the man stared at him before looking down at the magazines._

"_Sad case this one, kid never had a chance," the seller commented and Kuu stared at them. Didn't this man know who he was? No. That wasn't important. People didn't need to know who he was. He was being selfish and self-involved. He looked at the man and nodded, his fingers stretching out over the picture of Kuon and his countenance nearly breaking. _

"_Yes, very sad," Kuu mumbled as he held tight to some rosary beads that his paternal grandmother had had, they were supposed to bring you luck and lost love. He knew it wasn't enough to bring his son back but he would do anything for that to happen._

"_The guy that they suspect did it just got released on bail," the seller commented as he handed Kuu back his change and put the magazines in a paper bag. Kuu stood there, his eyes widening as he stared at the seller in horror. They had put the man who everyone thought had done it in jail and he had been released on bail. He had murdered his son for no reason. No way could Kuon have done something to deserve his fate other than being his son._

"_Is there a gun range around here? Baseball cages? Something that I can break?" he asked and the man looked at him. Kuu was distraught. Kuon wasn't coming back and this man was almost running free to do whatever he wanted to do. "I need to break something," Kuu said feeling the anger sink into him and the seller paused._

"_You a relative of this kid?" he asked as he handed Kuu the bag which he snatched out of his hand._

"_His father, actually," Kuu growled and the other man finally realized who he was talking to. Kuu had to kill someone but he knew that he would never get close to this actor. He wanted to murder him but it wasn't as if he could do that easily. Still, Kuu wanted him to feel the pain and suffering he had put Kuon through. Nobody should be able to do that to his kid and get away with it._

…

…

"You should never have come here," Kyoko said once again, this time changing her mood to angry as she stood in the acting class where she could be seen through the glass. Kuon sat outside on a bench watching her. For some reason the media wasn't flocking to him as his parents had been worried about. They probably didn't know who he was or didn't care who he was. He just wanted to slip into the shadows and observe as he had been doing for so many years.

"You should never have come here," Kyoko said in an excited manner and Kuon smiled. No matter what the assignment, Kyoko was really feeding off of it and performing amazingly. It reminded Kuon of when he had been a child and wanting to act had been his whole world. Those days were gone. Acting felt like he was hiding his true self and he had hidden for long enough.

Kuon sighed as he saw the students each with their own passion and stood up. He would take a quick walk and then surprise her and take her to lunch or something. He had been growing closer to her and the fact that he was out of the house had to mean something. He was daring to go out and into the world that had wronged him so much.

As he stood there, feeling a strange sense of weakness, he heard a familiar voice and looked up to see his mother talking with another woman. An actress. He hadn't told them that he was going to the agency, if he had they probably would have had a different reaction but Julie was staring at him as if he were some exotic animal and she rushed over to him, wrapping her arms around him.

"Honey, sweetheart, what are you doing here?" she asked as she placed a hand on his chest.

She didn't care if he was to have a violent outburst here. She didn't care if he supposedly brought shame upon the Hizuri household. He was here. He was _here_ where she could touch him and he had gotten out of the house. "Do you need anything?"

"I was watching the actors in the class," Kuon said as he gestured in that direction and Julie halted. There were classes for guys too and Kuon wouldn't be the eldest in the class, they could be taken at any age. Cost was never a factor for them either.

"Did you want to join?" Julie asked before pausing as she looked away. They had a strict acting test to get in but she loved her son, she knew that Kuon was talented but she was scared that he might not be talented _enough_. No, Kuu could coach him if he did want to join one of those classes. Kuu might have lied to her but Julie still loved her husband and believed in him.

"No. I was…I was waiting for Kyoko-chan," he told her and Julie pulled him into a close embrace again. She smiled as he said that. Kyoko had accepted him even with his faults and Kuon needed friends his own age. He needed to have some kind of support other than what she and Kuu were providing for him. She would have to thank Kyoko for helping her son.

"Jules," her friend said as she walked over to them, "Friend of yours?" she asked.

Julie squeezed Kuon's hand before turning back to her. They had been saved by the fact that Kuon's existence wasn't publicized very much but Julie didn't want to lie. "Yumi-san," she said as she turned and placed a comforting hand on Kuon's upper arm. "I'd like for you to meet my son, Kuon," she said and Kuon dropped into a bow, his body seeming to twitch a little. "Darling," Julie said as she saw his unease. "It's okay. Yes, he's my little boy. We thought that he had -"

"You always said that your son was deceased," Yumi said confused and Julie opened her mouth to explain but Kuon lifted his head and turned to his mother guiltily.

"My parents didn't know that I was alive," Kuon tried to explain and Julie rubbed his arm. Kuon was so much more important to her than Yumi and though she didn't want to hurt her friend, she didn't want to deny those things. Kuon was her little boy, her son and he always would be.

As they stood there, they heard the sound of the class getting out and Kuon excused himself from the conversation, promising that he would call Julie were anything to go wrong. Yumi took a step closer to Julie, watching Kuon leave with a neutral expression.

"Are you sure that he's not a cheater," Yumi said and Julie felt her back straighten as she couldn't believe what her friend was suggesting. "Listen, you and Kuu-kun have a lot of assets, you have money and property and other expensive things and you told me that your son has been dead for a very long time," she told her and Julie paused.

"Kuon is not after any of our property and if he wants our money, fine, he can have it but that _is_ my son. We did DNA tests and everything and his body was never recovered, all we had to go on was the feelings of other cases and hearsay evidence and the blood and obviously, his body was able to produce more blood. That _is_ my son and I want him to be treated with respect without you accusing his nature."

Julie felt tears in her eyes that she didn't want to be there. She wanted everything connected with Kuon to be happy and good like they all deserved. She bowed her head, trying to gain her strength. She didn't want people talking about Kuon in that type of manner.

"Has he been to a psychiatrist?" Yumi asked and Julie started to walk away.

"I love you, I treasure our friendship but I will not stand for you passing judgment on him. Of course he's going to a psychiatrist, nobody lives through what he went through without deep emotional scarring and he's got his problems but we're working on them as a family. I want you to give him as much respect as you give to Kuu. He's my son and I don't want him to feel that he can't be in my life, do you understand?" Julie asked as she looked to Yumi, her eyes were sparkling with tears.

Yumi opened her mouth to say something but instead just decided to nod. Julie wrapped a hand around her waist wanting to feel secure in her decisions. Yumi had become an important friend to her but no one carried as much importance as the two most important men in her life.

…..

…..

As Kyoko exited the class, a wide grin appeared on her face as she saw Kuon waiting for her. She blushed as she realized that he probably saw her acting, she still had a lot of room for improvement. She saw a couple of the other students staring at him and whispering, some about who he was and others about how handsome he was.

"Corn," Kyoko said happily and Kuon smiled, glad to see that he brought out a positive reaction on her face. "What are you doing here? Kuu-sama said that you were a little nervous about going out in public?"

"I wanted to ask you if you wanted to come out with me to lunch?" he asked and Kyoko blinked as she grabbed a towel and wiped the sweat off from her face. She turned to him and opened her mouth before nodding.

"We can go anywhere that you want," she said as she thought about how they had interacted when they had been young children. She placed so much trust in this man before her and she wanted to celebrate his return and leaving the restaurant with a meal shared with him.

"Good," Kuon winked and leaned down to whisper in her ear, "Because I heard about this place that makes the _best_ hamburger steaks, complete with a fried egg on top."

**End of Chapter Ten**

**Thank you for reading, reviews are always appreciated**

**Thank you to the reviewers of Chapter Nine**

H-Nala, Kaname671, Kris XD, The Real Jackie-O


	11. Chapter 11 - Acceptance and Belonging

**AN: **I will do some more Kuon flashbacks soon since it's mainly about Kuon but I really wanted to continue the one from last chapter.

**Chapter Eleven – Acceptance and Belonging**

Kuon laughed as he brought the burger to his mouth, he stared at Kyoko as she was taking small bites,

she really did remind Kuon of a squirrel or sweet little animal like a chipmunk. It was nice to see that the harsh realities of the world could be survived. "Thank you," Kuon said as he reached for a couple of fries, dipping them into the ketchup. "I didn't know what you'd think if I chose to eat fast food. It's not really dainty or high class," he said as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"No. I love hamburgers of all kinds," Kyoko said excitedly before blushing and sitting back in the chair. She saw him smiling at her and she looked down. After all that Kuon had been through, it seemed strange just seeing him eating a burger like a regular person.

"Then I shouldn't feel too badly," he said and Kyoko smiled in a cute manner. "I…when I was a kid…sometimes Dad would take me out to get like a cheeseburger or something. He didn't usually eat this type of food, he'd spend much more money on food but when I said I wanted to fit in, it was his way of trying to make that possible."

"You love Kuu-sama, don't you?" Kyoko asked and Kuon nodded.

"I mean, it probably takes someone pretty special to look at me, the son who has just come back from the dead, has violent mood swings and an unpredictable personality. Who is flawed in ways that you might not even think possible and just take me in, treat me as if I'm not flawed, do everything in his power to help me," Kuon said as he took another bite into the burger.

"He loves you," the beginner-actress said, "Don't forget how much he loves you. You love one another."

Kuon smiled happily, "Yeah," he said as he watched Kyoko again. He wanted to believe that his father would be happy no matter what he chose to do with the rest of his life but there were some secrets in the shadows of Kuon's world that prevented him from opening up fully. He wanted to be a doctor but he didn't know if he could ever reveal to his family what he had been through.

The fear of rejection was painful, more painful than any of the pain he had gone through.

"How about you, you want to be an actress more than anything, right?" he asked and Kyoko nodded eagerly. "I never got far in the acting world but I'll be happy to read lines with you," he told her and Kyoko beamed.

"I'm sure you'd be a great actor," she said excitedly and Kuon rolled his eyes.

"I'd prefer to live in reality," he said.

…..

…

_Kuu stared blankly to the side as he stood on set. He was having so many cuts because it felt like he had _

_forgotten how to act. He was only trying to finish the contracts he had already signed and then he would retire from acting. He kept thinking of the little boy who had once sat in his lap and said that he wanted to be an actor because his father loved it. That little boy would never grow up to be the actor he had wanted to be. _

"_Okay, Kuu, do you think you could do one more take?" the director asked and Kuu pushed a hand through his hair attempting to concentrate on his work. He had never had trouble with his work before, not like this. "Are you going to -"_

"_I'll deliver this time," Kuu said as he tried to keep the pain from his eyes. However, he heard a child laughing and his back straightened automatically._

"_Daddy!" a young boy yelled and Kuu whipped around to see one of the other actor's son run into his arms and get scooped up. Kuu would say in the past that he loved his son and he still loved his son but he didn't have a living son any longer. As much as he wanted to believe that Kuon was out there somehow, he had to start thinking realistically. _

_He still loved Kuon but he would never be able to tell him that._

"_Kuu, we need you to focus," the director called out and Kuu nodded, his eyes going to the happy father and son moment. He had been ecstatic when he had first held Kuon in his arms and had studied every part of him. He had been there for the birth of his son. He only hoped that he hadn't suffered much at the end of his life. _

"_Focus…focus…" Kuu said as he tried to get his mind back into the scene. _

"_Yeah," a man laughed and Kuu's eyes widened as he looked at a man that he would never have believed would be there. He was supposed to be in jail, in a holding cell until trial. There would be a trial and this man would suffer. Kuu felt himself struggling as he stood there. _

"_Damn it!" he said as he dropped what he was holding and went off set, his eyes narrowing in hatred as he came over to the other actor who everyone believed had kidnapped and murdered his son. Kuu wanted this man dead. He wanted to be the one to murder him. "How dare you! You mother f***" he said before pushing him down on the ground. His hands shaking around the man's throat. _

_He placed a shaking hand on the man's chest wanting to rip out his heart with his bare hands. He didn't care that everyone was looking at him. He had to punch him, he had to keep striking with his fists. He had to see blood. He had to see this man bleed just as this man had seen Kuon's blood. "I'll slaughter you! He didn't deserve that!" he yelled as he continued to attack this man, he felt people attempt to restrain him. He pushed them away. "My son didn't deserve that!" he yelled again. "What the hell did he do to you! He was just a kid!"_

"_Kuu, you have to stop this," the director said as it took four people to finally restrain him even though the man he was attacking had lost consciousness. "Can someone get security here."_

"_He killed my son," Kuu said as he glared at the director. "How come that is ignored!? He killed a kid. A child!"_

"_And security will take care of him," the director said, "but wait for the trial. If you kill him then you wil never get justice. He'll get what he deserves," he said and Kuu felt his body shaking, he glared at the unconscious man ahead of him. He wanted him dead. He wanted to be the one to send him to the depths of hell. _

…..

…..

Lory was surprised that Kuu had even agreed to meet with him. He looked at the information before him which he had collected and despite being in these bad situations, Kuon wasn't innocent. The people who had kept him hostage were drug dealers, gang leaders, criminals, but you didn't go through those situations without learning how to become a criminal. Hopefully Kuu would listen to him.

To Lory, it seemed that Kuu was just living in a fantasy world where he was unable to see what was going on in front of him. Yes, Kuon should be able to get a good life for himself but at the same time, he really needed to change if these circumstances had affected him psychologically. He was broken. There was no chance of him not being broken.

Lory looked up as an angry Kuu came into the office, obviously not wanting to be there.

"Shuuhe-" Lory started to say but Kuu shook his head.

"This isn't a friendly conversation," he said and Lory nodded, sitting down and gesturing to a chair. Kuu reluctantly sat down before looking at the amount of paperwork there was before them. He glanced at it but his eyes didn't catch onto any of the words. "Did I interrupt something? I believe that you asked me to…"

"I wanted to show you these, ask you if you're sure of what you're getting yourself into." Lory picked up one file about a gangster who had been convicted for raping and abusing and physically torturing young boys. He handed it to Kuu and Kuu looked over it unsure what it meant. Why was he called down here to see this?

"This man was already given the death penalty," Kuu said as he looked through the forms before his stomach churned as he saw pictures of some of the boys he had photographed in pornographic ways and his body started shaking as he saw a naked and terrified Kuon. He threw the paperwork down on the table, his eyes focusing on Lory in anger.

"You should have warned me before I got to that page!" Kuu snapped. He shook his head, pushing his fingers through his hair again as he felt his heart ripped open. "He's dead though and he deserves it but if I had known about this, I could have found Kuon earlier. Don't you _dare_ tell me that you knew about all of this."

"I didn't know about this earlier but it has been shown by studies that if children are abused they could go on to be abu-"

Kuu stood up, his eyes flashing with anger as Lory said those words. He couldn't believe this was being said to him. Kuon shouldn't be judged in this type of manner. It wasn't as if Kuon was going to go out there and start abducting kids. If anything, this made him more sensitive to the needs of those children. "I know you have more money and power than me, I'm not an idiot to know that if I try to attack you legally, you'll win but don't you dare go after Kuon. He's suffered enough. Don't you dare speak about him in that way. I know that he needs help, he's going to therapy and has a psychiatrist as well. I won't tolerate you saying such things about my child."

"The research shows that abused childr-" Lory argued trying to get Kuu to see the truth but Kuu glared at him again.

"Need the most love and support," he said before looking at the papers, "Is this all about what Kuon went through, the people who held him from us?" he asked and Lory nodded. "I want copies of all of this," he demanded. "I need to know how to best help him but I am not going to let anyone hurt him, physically or even verbally," he warned as his eyes went back to the photograph. He just wished that he had been able to help his son before he wound up like that.

**End of Chapter Eleven**

**Thank you for reading, reviews are appreciated**

**Thank you to the reviewers of Chapter Ten**

Black neko hime, H-Nala, Kaname671, The Real Jackie-O


	12. Chapter 12 - Halloween Onions

**Chapter Twelve – Halloween Onions**

_Kuu took a deep breath in as he stood in the hallway of the restaurant that he had opened earlier that year. He hadn't known that Halloween had become a big thing in Japan. It hadn't been when he had been a young boy growing up in Kyoto. Still, seeing kids having fun was both heart warming and heartbreaking for him. It made him see a world where there was still hope but that would be a world without his own son laughing or smiling or even living. _

_Kuu went to the living room where Julie who, only a few hours ago, had been excited about passing out candy was lying in a fetal position sobbing and surrounded by candy wrappers. She had been so happy about seeing little kids and their outfits but as she looked at each crowd, her heart wept for her little boy. Julie would always have such a fun time going trick or treating with him. Maybe he was getting onto his last years of trick or treating when he had left them but he could have still gone to Halloween parties and dressed up._

_Kuon would have even been the type of guy who would choose to volunteer to take around neighborhood kids. He was a good guy. He might have had his challenges in life but he was a good boy who hadn't deserved the terrible things which had happened to him._

"_Can you stop them from coming?" Julie sobbed and Kuu nodded. He came over to her and gently let her head rest on his knees as he soothed her._

"_I'll do my best," he promised her. He kept trying to calm her down. They had both independently thought about trying again with another child, they both had enough years on their life to do it and not be too old as the kid grew up but neither of them wanted that. To have a kid felt like replacing Kuon and they didn't want to do that. They had failed their son. They, in no way, deserved to have another child. _

KHKHKHKH

Kuu looked over the details in the file or as many of them as he could get through. It sickened him. He couldn't handle all of this. Knowing the way that his son was defiled and robbed of his innocence made him both angry at them and angry at himself. If he hadn't left Kuon alone. If he had just done his paternal duties then Kuon wouldn't have had to suffer. Kuu heard a sound behind him and so shoved the file in a locked safe and looked around the kitchen attempting to find something he could say he was doing.

Fortunately not even Kyoko knew the information about the safe and the restaurant wasn't open yet, he'd be able to transfer them without anyone knowing. "If you wanted to start with the stock for the miso," he called out thinking that it might be Kyoko. He tried to calm himself down so Kyoko wouldn't ask questions about what he was doing.

"I'm sorry," he heard Kuon laughing awkwardly and immediately looked up to see that Kuon and Kyoko had come back together. He looked to Kuon and felt the heartbreak go over his face as he imagined all the pain that this now-man had been through. He saw Kuon's shocked look and tried to look away from him. "I was going to say I'm not familiar with cooking soup but…did I do something wro-"

"NO!" Kuu said quickly and both Kyoko and Kuon took a step backwards, not sure how to respond to Kuu's quick response. Kuu tried to calm himself down but he kept thinking about how he might be after going through what Kuon had been tortured by. No. He didn't want to think about that. Kuu closed his eyes again. "No. Please don't ever ask that."

"O..kay," Kuon said as he eyed him cautiously. "I don't mind. There's a lot that I don't know so if I have done something that upset you. I just want to live a normal life but I don't know how that -"

"You _will_ live a normal life," Kuu stressed. "You can do anything that you want to do. I will make sure that you can do anything that you want to. If you want to be a doctor then I'll pay for everything. I need to make it up for you. No one should have go-"

"What do you know?" Kuon asked as he looked at him nervously and Kyoko turned between them. Something felt wrong here and she didn't like the tension. She suddenly was reminded by the fact that although Kuu and Julie had always been kind to her and treated her as a family member, she really wasn't part of their direct family. Kuon was her friend but he was their son. He was Kuu's son, his child, nobody could compete with that.

Kuu looked down before bowing his head. "Kuon, I'm just concerned -"

Kuon shivered and Kuu was surprised to see his hand clench and then unclench. He took a step forward not knowing how to begin the interaction but seeing the tears that were sliding down Kuon's cheeks made his heart stop. "I can exp-plain," Kuon whispered like a small child about to be punished for stealing candy or sneaking out after dark. "Please, give me a chance to explain it. I didn't….no-nothing I did….I didn't mean to," he said as he started to get a little more worked up and Kuu stared at him.

"Kuon. It's okay," he said softly as he put a hand on Kuon's shoulder in an attempt to steady him. "What are you saying? You don't have to explain anything to me. I'm your father. You're my son. There is nothing that will stop that from being true, there is nothing that could keep me from loving you."

"I'm not a fake," Kuon told him as he looked away and Kuu sighed before trying to pull out a chair for Kuon to sit down on. Kuon stared at him. "Do I have to leave? Is that it? You want me to leave? I don't know where to go but if that's what…would make you happy," he said before starting to hyperventilate. "First…M-Mom…and….and I…I thought…I'm stupid," he whispered as he looked at his hands and Kuu saw the years of pain manifesting themselves into this moment, "I'm sorry I'm so stupid. I'm sorry I was wrong. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm -"

Kuu did the only thing he could think of and he grabbed Kuon from behind, wrapping his arms around the tortured man before turning him around so that Kuon could place his forehead on Kuu's shoulder before he cried letting so many years of pain out. There was so much healing that needed to happen here and as Kuu felt Kuon sink down onto the ground, he travelled with him. He hated hearing his son apologize but it only brought to mind how painful those apologies might have been when he was much younger and to someone who only wanted to hurt him.

KHKHKHKH

_Kuon felt the pain in his face as he lay panting on the ground. Something had gone wrong with the drop off and even though he hadn't been the runner for the gang tonight, they had wanted someone to beat up and they had thought that with his pretty boy face he was annoying enough, They had said that they wanted to turn him into a monster. And then they had told him the worst thing. They had reminded him that his parents were dead, they had toyed with him asked him if they promised to take him back to his father if they could mutilate him, would a parent love a mutilated little monster._

_It was an easy question to answer because the chances of him ever getting to go home again without his fighting back were zero. Still, with how badly his face hurt maybe they had done some damage after all. Maybe they had broken his nose. Maybe they had made it so that his skull was deformed. _

_Kuon laughed through the pain knowing that the blood loss of tonight was making it so that he felt woozy. His perfect parents. What would they think about having a monster in their family? It would give them a reason not to love him and so maybe he was helping them. They always had sent out the family photo on their Christmas cards. They always enjoyed spending time together. He had gone and done many things which other people would never get the chance to. He was out in public._

_Would his parents still love him if he looked like a monster? Kuon tried to pretend that they didn't, it was easier for the young teenager to cope if he imagined that they were disgusted by him. However, the more he thought about it the worse he felt. He couldn't see his father disowning him or scorning him, he could see the complicated look in his Dad's eyes but also the pride of Kuon being a Hizuri. His Dad wouldn't have rejected him, he would have fought for him, protected him. His mother would have given everything for his protection and happiness._

_But instead of hearing them say how much they loved him and supported him. Instead of feeling those warm embraces. Instead of knowing that feeling that his family was there with him, he was alone and his face hurt and the dirt on the ground was making the pain worse and the only reason why he was laughing was because he felt that the pain would never end. _

"_Would they have?" he heard another boy ask and he didn't even look up to show recognition that he had heard that, "Would your parents have cast you out as a monster? I think mine would have. Would yours?"_

"_Never," Kuon laughed as the pain started to feel worse. He would do anything to have his Dad burst into this dark, dim, basement. He would give anything to just have his Dad's arms around him for a moment, a minute, a few seconds, anything. _

KHKHKHKH

Kuu handed Kuon a cup of hot tea as Kuon stared ahead at a recipe book. It didn't matter what he looked at, it just had to be something to take his mind away from what was going on. As much as he was happy to be with his parents again, there were so many things that just couldn't be erased. Trauma was difficult to shed. Kuon looked at a magazine that Kuu had left on the counter. It was something that was more of Julie's style, some culture or new styles or trends, something that just kept her entertained and distracted from the cold reality around them.

"They've got a lot of game consoles," Kuon said as he looked through the magazine. He already knew this. There were other places he had come before coming here to where his father was. Still, he hadn't seen many of these devices in person. It felt like such a luxury to have time to yourself to play video games, he had barely had time to think without being in pain.

"Hmm, yeah, Boss likes…..playing with those," Kuu said as he tried not to let the anger into his voice. He frowned as he thought about it. Lory Takarada was playing dating simulation games whilst his own son was being tortured for no fricken reason. Kuu loudly chopped the onion in front of him and Kuon took a deep breath in, the chopping triggering him a little.

"Dad," he said and Kuu continued to chop which made the sound echo in Kuon's head. "I need you to stop," he said before the echo became louder and louder and Kuon stood up, slamming his hands on the counter top which made Kuu and Kyoko both look at him. Kuon looked pissed off but he was trying his best to control that.

"Father," he said trying his best to stay calm. "I need for you to not chop as loudly or I need to leave the room," he said and Kuu put the knife down immediately. Kuon took deep breaths in, "Thank you." He said not wanting to tell his dad that just by hearing those heavy chops it made him think of the numerous times he'd been punched or hit or smashed apart just like an onion. Damn it, that animated movie was right, just like an onion he had too many damn layers.

**End of Chapter Twelve**

**Thank you for reading, reviews are appreciated**

**As part of my trying to gauge reader-interest for stories, one of the main ways for me to decide what to update will be with review counts on the latest chapters so let me know which fics you'd like me to review. (There are also my favorites which I will update with or without reviews though I do appreciate them (You'll Always Be My Prince)). **

Thank you to the reviewers of Chapter Eleven

Black neko hime, H-Nala, JuniEmerald, Kaname671


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